Sent away
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him, and gave him this instruction. “Don't marry a Canaanite woman. Go straight to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel, and get yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a company of peoples. May He give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so you take hold of the land you're living in as a foreigner — the land God gave to Abraham.” So Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him, and gave him this instruction. “Don't marry a Canaanite woman.
Go straight to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother's father Bethuel, and get yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.
And may God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a company of peoples.
May He give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham, so you take hold of the land you're living in as a foreigner — the land God gave to Abraham.”
So Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau tries again
Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there, and that when he blessed him he'd told him, “Don't marry a Canaanite woman,” and that Jacob had listened to his father and mother and gone to Paddan Aram. Then Esau realised how much his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite women. So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, on top of the wives he already had.
Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there, and that when he blessed him he'd told him, “Don't marry a Canaanite woman,”
and that Jacob had listened to his father and mother and gone to Paddan Aram.
Then Esau realised how much his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite women.
So he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, on top of the wives he already had.
The stairway
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. He came to a certain place and stopped there for the night, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there, put it under his head, and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed. There was a stairway set up on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on it. And there above it stood the Lord, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I'll give you and your descendants the land you're lying on. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you'll spread out west and east and north and south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. And I'm with you. I'll look after you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this land. I won't leave you until I've done what I've promised you.”
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
He came to a certain place and stopped there for the night, because the sun had gone down. He took one of the stones there, put it under his head, and lay down to sleep.
And he dreamed. There was a stairway set up on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down on it.
And there above it stood the Lord, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I'll give you and your descendants the land you're lying on.
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you'll spread out west and east and north and south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
And I'm with you. I'll look after you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this land. I won't leave you until I've done what I've promised you.”
This place is terrifying
And Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn't know it.” And he was afraid, and he said, “This place is terrifying. This is nothing less than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” Early next morning Jacob took the stone he'd had under his head and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the town had been called Luz before.
And Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn't know it.”
And he was afraid, and he said, “This place is terrifying. This is nothing less than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.”
Early next morning Jacob took the stone he'd had under his head and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.
He called that place Bethel, though the town had been called Luz before.
The vow
And Jacob made a vow. “If God is with me and looks after me on this journey I'm on, and gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I come back safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God, and this stone I've set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of everything You give me, I'll give You a tenth.”
And Jacob made a vow. “If God is with me and looks after me on this journey I'm on, and gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,
so that I come back safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God,
and this stone I've set up as a pillar will be God's house. And of everything You give me, I'll give You a tenth.”