Jacob’s Departure

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. 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. 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 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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 the name of that place Bethel,† but Luz was the name of the city at the first.

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 in peace to the house of my father, then YHWH will be my God. 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.”