Isaac Sends Jacob to Paddan Aram
1So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and he commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2Get up and go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take a wife there from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3May God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become a company of peoples. 4May he give you the blessing of Abraham — you and your offspring with you — so that you may possess the land where you now live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. 6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, and that as he blessed him he commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. 8Esau also saw that the Canaanite women displeased his father Isaac, 9so Esau went to Ishmael and took as a wife, in addition to the wives he already had, Mahalath daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, sister of Nebaioth.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. 11He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place, set it under his head, and lay down there to sleep. 12He dreamed, and there before him stood a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to the heavens, and there were angels of God going up and coming down on it. 13And there was Yahweh, standing beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and through your offspring. 15Look — I am with you. I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” 16When Jacob woke from his sleep, he said, “Yahweh is truly in this place, and I did not know it.” 17He was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God — this is the gate of heaven.” 18Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil over the top of it. 19He named that place Bethel, though the city had formerly been called Luz. 20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I am making, and give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, 21so that I return safely to my father’s house, then Yahweh will be my God, 22and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of everything you give me, I will surely give you a tenth.”
