DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 56
G enesis 28
38
But Rebekah heard about Esau’s plans. So she sent for Jacob and told
him, “Listen, Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you. 43 So listen
carefully, my son. Get ready and flee to my brother, Laban, in Haran. 44 Stay
there with him until your brother cools off. 45 When he calms down and forgets what you have done to him, I will send for you to come back. Why should
I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick and tired of these local Hittite
women! I would rather die than see Jacob marry one of them.”
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28
So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry
any of these Canaanite women. 2 Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram,
to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle La
ban’s daughters. 3 May God Almighty* bless you and give you many children.
And may your descendants multiply and become many nations! 4 May 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.”
5 So 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.
6 Esau 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.” 7 He also knew that Jacob had obeyed his parents
and gone to Paddan-aram. 8 It was now very clear to Esau that his father did
not like the local Canaanite women. 9 So 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 Ne
baioth and the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
Jacob’s Dream at Bethel
10 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 wasn’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
28:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai.
28:4 Hebrew seed; also in 28:13, 14.
