Then Isaac called Jacob and ablessed him, and charged him, and said to him: b“You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 aArise, go to bPadan Aram, to the house of cBethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of dLaban your mother’s brother.
3 “May aGod Almighty bless you,
And make you bfruitful and multiply you,
That you may be an assembly of peoples;
4 And give you athe blessing of Abraham,
To you and your descendants with you,
That you may inherit the land
bIn which you are a stranger,
Which God gave to Abraham.”
5 So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Esau Marries Mahalath
6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” 7 and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Padan Aram. 8 Also Esau saw athat the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Isaac. 9 So Esau went to Ishmael and atook bMahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, cthe sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.
Jacob’s Vow at Bethel
10 Now Jacob awent out from Beersheba and went toward bHaran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he adreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there bthe angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 aAnd behold, the Lord stood above it and said: b“I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; cthe land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your adescendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad bto the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and cin your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, aI am with you and will bkeep you wherever you go, and will cbring you back to this land; for dI will not leave you euntil I have done what I have spoken to you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in athis place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, aset it up as a pillar, band poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of athat place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 aThen Jacob made a vow, saying, “If bGod will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me cbread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that aI come back to my father’s house in peace, bthen the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar ashall be God’s house, band of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.” The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
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