Genesis 28 - The Passion Translation(TPT)

Jacob Flees to Laban

1Before Jacob left, Isaac called for him, blessed him, and gave him these instructions: “I forbid you to marry any Canaanite woman.

2Leave at once for the land of your grandfather Bethuel in Paddan-Aram and find one of the young women there to marry, one of your uncle Laban’s daughters.

3May the God who is always more than enough bless you abundantly. May he make you fruitful and multiply your descendants until you become many tribes!

4May he impart to you and your seed the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you now live as a foreigner—the land God gave to Abraham.”

5Then Isaac sent Jacob on his way to Paddan-Aram, the land of his grandfather Bethuel the Aramean, to the home of Laban, Bethuel’s son and the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Esau Takes Another Wife

6Esau had learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Paddan-Aram to find a wife there, and that while blessing him, Isaac had instructed him, “Don’t marry a Canaanite woman.”

7Furthermore, Esau found out that Jacob had obeyed his parents and fled to Paddan-Aram.

8Esau, knowing that his father Isaac disapproved of Canaanite women,

9went to Ishmael’s clan and chose a woman named Mahalath to be one of his wives. She was the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, and sister of Nebaioth. The Stairway of Eternity

10Jacob left Beersheba and journeyed toward Haran.

11He encountered a certain place at sunset and camped there for the night. He took a stone from there, made it his pillow, and lay down to sleep.

12He had a dream of a stairway securely fixed on the earth and reaching into heaven. And there were messengers of God ascending and descending on the stairway.

13And Yahweh stood beside him and said to him, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. You are lying on the very ground that I will give to you and your descendants.

14They will become as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth, and they will extend their territory in all directions. Through you and your descendants, I will bless the whole world.

15Never forget—I am always with you and will protect you wherever you go. And one day I will bring you back to this land, for I will neither leave you nor fail to fulfill every word I have promised you.”

16When Jacob awoke from his dream, he was overcome with awe and said, “Yahweh is here! He is in this place and I didn’t realize it!”

17Terrified and overwhelmed, he said, “How awesome is this place! I have stumbled right into the House of God! This place is a portal, the very gate of heaven!”

18Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone he had under his head, set it up as a pillar and anointed it by pouring oil over the top of it.

19He named that place Bethel; though the city was once called Luz.

20Then Jacob committed himself to God, saying, “If you will always be with me and protect me on this long journey, and if you give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

21and if I return safely to my father’s house, then Yahweh, you will be my God!

22See! I have set up this sacred stone pillar and it will be your house, God. I promise to set aside a tenth of all that you give me as my gift to you.”