Genesis 28

Modern

Literal

Jacob’s Departure

¹So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded.

¹And Isaac called to Jacob, and he blessed him, and he commanded him and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

²“Go at once to Paddan-aram,^a to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

²Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, the father of your mother, and take for yourself from there a wife from the daughters of Laban, the brother of your mother.

³May God Almighty^a bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.

³And may El-Shaddai bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and you shall be an assembly of peoples.

⁴And may He give the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

⁴And may He give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your seed with you, to inherit the land of your sojourning which God gave to Abraham.”

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁵And Isaac sent away Jacob, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

⁶Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”

⁶And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take for himself from there a wife, and as he blessed him, he commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”

⁷and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

⁷And Jacob listened to his father and to his mother and he went to Paddan-aram.

⁸And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

⁸And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father.

⁹Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.

⁹And Esau went to Ishmael, and he took as his wife Mahalath daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham and sister of Nebajoth, in addition to the wives unto him.

Jacob’s Ladder

¹⁰Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

¹⁰And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

¹¹On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.

¹¹And he came to the place and he lodged there because the sun had set, and he took from the stones of the place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place.

¹²And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder.

¹²And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to the heavens. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

¹³And there at the top^a the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

¹³And behold, YHWH was standing above it and said, “I am YHWH, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying—to you I will give it, and to your seed.

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

¹⁴And your seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall break forth to the west, and east, and north, and south. And all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your seed.

¹⁵Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁵And behold, I am with you and will keep you in every place that you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until that I have done what I have spoken to you.”

¹⁶When Jacob woke up, he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.”

¹⁶And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely YHWH is in this place, and I—I did not know it.”

¹⁷And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”

¹⁷And he feared and he said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than the house of God! And this is the gate of the heavens!”

The Stone of Bethel

¹⁸Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,

¹⁸And Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel,^a though previously the city had been named Luz.

¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel, but Luz was the name of the city at the first.

²⁰Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,

²⁰And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I am going and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

²¹so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God.

²¹so that I may return in peace to the house of my father, then YHWH will be my God.

²²And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”

²²And this stone that I have set up as a pillar shall be a house of God, and all that You give to me, I will surely tithe it to You.”