Genesis 28
A Ladder Between Earth and Heaven
← Genesis 27 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 29 →
Read this chapter with the Hebrew and Greek compared →
Jacob Sent to Laban
28:1Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of the Canaanites.”
28:2“Arise, flee to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife there from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.”
28:3“May my God bless you, increase you, and multiply you, so you become assemblies of nations.”
28:4“And may He give the blessing of Abraham my father to you and to your seed after you, so that you may inherit the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham.”
28:5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went into Mesopotamia, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28:6Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and that Jacob had gone to Mesopotamia of Syria to take a wife. In blessing him, Isaac had commanded, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”
28:7And Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went into Mesopotamia of Syria.
28:8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased Isaac his father.
28:9and Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife, in addition to the wives he already had.
Jacob’s Stairway to Heaven
28:10Now Jacob went out from the Well of the Oath and journeyed toward Haran.
28:11And he came to a certain place and stayed the night there, for the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down to sleep in that place.
28:12And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway was set up on the earth, and its top reached into heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending upon it!
28:13And the Lord stood firm upon it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; fear not. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your seed.”
28:14“Your seed shall be like the sand of the earth. It shall spread toward the sea, the south, the north, and the east, and all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in you and your seed.”
28:15“I am with you, guarding you on every road you travel. I will bring you back to this land, for I will never abandon you until I have done all that I have spoken to you.”
28:16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it!”
28:17And he was afraid and said, “How fearful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
28:18So Jacob arose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it.
28:19Jacob named that place House of God; previously the city had been called Oulamlous.
28:20Then Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If the Lord God will be with me, and guard me on this way in which I go, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,”
28:21“and He brings me back safely to my father’s house, then the Lord shall be my God.”
28:22“And this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall be to me the house of God; and of all that You give me, I will surely tithe a tenth to You.”
← Genesis 27 · Genesis: all chapters · Genesis 29 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.