| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. | 1So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women,” he commanded. |
| 2Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. | 2“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. |
| 3May God Almighty bless you and give you many children. And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! | 3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples. |
| 4May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.” | 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.” |
| 5So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to stay with his uncle Laban, his mother’s brother, the son of Bethuel the Aramean. | 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. |
| 6Esau knew that his father, Isaac, had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife, and that he had warned Jacob, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman.” | 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,” |
| 7He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan-aram. | 7and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram. |
| 8It was now very clear to Esau that his father did not like the local Canaanite women. | 8And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women, |
| 9So Esau visited his uncle Ishmael’s family and married one of Ishmael’s daughters, in addition to the wives he already had. His new wife’s name was Mahalath. She was the sister of Nebaioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son. Jacob’s Dream at Bethel | 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. |
| 10Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. | 10Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. |
| 11At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. | 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. |
| 12As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway. | 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. |
| 13At the top of the stairway stood the LORD, and he said, “I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. | 13And there at the top 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. |
| 14Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. | 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. |
| 15What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” | 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.” |
| 16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” | 16When Jacob woke up, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.” |
| 17But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” | 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!” |
| 18The next morning Jacob got up very early. He took the stone he had rested his head against, and he set it upright as a memorial pillar. Then he poured olive oil over it. | 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, |
| 19He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz. | 19and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz. |
| 20Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, | 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, |
| 21and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the LORD will certainly be my God. | 21so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God. |
| 22And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.” | 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.” |
|
