Wayfinding Bible - Flipbook - Page 50
44
Genesis 29
PG 40
28:10–29:14
SCENIC
20
JACOB’S DREAM AT BETHEL
Jacob has fled his parents’ home in fear of Esau’s vengeance. Jacob’s deceit has
torn their family apart. He will never see his mother, Rebekah, again. Alone and
far from home, Jacob lies down to sleep on the ground. In the middle of nowhere,
the Lord appears to him in a dream.
JACOB’S DREAM AT BETHEL
Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 At 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. 12 As 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.
13
At 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. 14 Your 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. 15 What’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.”
16
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I w
asn’t
even aware of it!” 17 But 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!”
18
The 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.
19
He named that place Bethel (which means
“house of God”), although it was previously
called Luz.
20
Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will
indeed be with me and protect me on this
10
journey, and if he will provide me with food
and clothing, 21 and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be
my God. 22 And 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.”
JACOB ARRIVES AT PADDAN-ARAM
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Then Jacob hurried on, finally arriving
in the land of the east. 2 He saw a well in
the distance. Three flocks of sheep and goats
lay in an open field beside it, waiting to be watered. But a heavy stone covered the mouth of
the well.
3
It was the custom there to wait for all the
flocks to arrive before removing the stone and
watering the animals. Afterward the stone
would be placed back over the mouth of the
well. 4 Jacob went over to the shepherds and
asked, “Where are you from, my friends?”
“We are from Haran,” they answered.
5
“Do you know a man there named Laban,
the grandson of Nahor?” he asked.
“Yes, we do,” they replied.
6
“Is he doing well?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, he’s well,” they answered. “Look,
here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock
now.”
7
Jacob said, “Look, it’s still broad daylight—
too early to round up the animals. Why don’t
you water the sheep and goats so they can get
back out to pasture?”
8
“We can’t water the animals until all the
flocks have arrived,” they replied. “Then the
shepherds move the stone from the mouth
of the well, and we water all the sheep and
goats.”
9
Jacob was still talking with them when
