Jacob Flees to Laban
1 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife from the women of Canaan. 2 Get up, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father. Take a wife from there from the women of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples, 4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham.”
5 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.
Essau Marries Mahalath
6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to find a wife from there, and that as Isaac was blessing Jacob, he commanded him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the women of Canaan,” 7 and he saw that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went to Paddan Aram.
8 Esau realized that his father, Isaac, was displeased with the Canaanite women. 9 Esau went to Ishmael and took, in addition to the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
Jacob’s Ladder
10 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 He dreamed and saw a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 The Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. I will give you the land on which you are lying, to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. Through you and through your offspring, all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15 I am with you and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you back into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken to you.”
16 Jacob awakened from his sleep, and he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Jacob Commits to Give a Tenth
18 Jacob rose up 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 top of it. 19 He called the place Bethel, even though the name of the city had been named Luz.
20 Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, and the Lord will be my God, 22 then this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be the house of the Lord. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”