The Word of the Lord

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Genesis 28

1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, Thou shalt not take a woman of the daughters of Canaan.
2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father, and take to thee from thence a woman of the daughters of Laban, thy mother’s brother.
3 And God Shaddai1 will bless thee, and will make· thee ·fruitful and multiply thee, and thou shalt be for an assembly of peoples.
4 And He will give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.
5 And Isaac sent· Jacob ·away; and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
6 And Esau saw that Isaac blessed Jacob, and sent him to Paddan-aram, to take for himself from thence a woman, and in blessing him commanded him, saying, Thou shalt not take a woman of the daughters of Canaan.
7 And Jacob hearkened to his father and to his mother, and went to Paddan-aram.
8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father.
9 And Esau went to Ishmael, and took to himself for a woman, Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, over his women2.
10 And Jacob went·​·out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he came·​·upon a place, and passed·​·the·​·night there, for the sun had set3; and he took one of the stones of the place, and set it as his headrest, and lay·​·down in that place.
12 And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway4 standing·​·on the earth, and its head reaching the heavens; and behold, the angels of God going·​·up and going·​·down on it;
13 and behold, Jehovah standing above it; and He said, I am Jehovah the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt break·​·forth to the sea, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed, and in thy seed.
15 And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in every place which thou goest, and will return thee to this ground; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee.
16 And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he feared, and said, How fearsome·​·is5 this place! This is none other·​·than the house of God, and this is the gate of the heavens.
18 And Jacob got·​·up·​·early in the morning, and took the stone that he had set for his headrest, and set it for a pillar, and poured oil on the head of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel6; nevertheless the name of the city was Luz7 at the first.
20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with·​·me and will keep me in this way in which I walk, and will give to me bread to eat, and a garment with· which to be ·clothed,
21 and I return in peace to my father’s house, then Jehovah shall be to me for God.
22 And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be the house of God; and all that Thou shalt give to me, tithing I will tithe it to Thee.

1“Properly Shaddai means the Tempter, and, following temptations, the One who does good” (AC 1992:5 at Genesis 17:1).

2that is, in addition to the women he already had

3literally, “gone in”

4In the original language the term “stairway” is derived from an expression which signifies a “path” or “way” (AC 3699).

5“As in the original language the word ‘fearsome’ is derived from the same word as is ‘fear,’ it is holiness which is meant by it; and whereas in the internal sense ‘fear’ signifies what is sacred ... by the same word in the original language is meant also veneration and reverence, which likewise is holy fear” (AC 3719).

6“In the original language ‘Bethel’ means ‘house of God’” (AC 3729).

7“In the original language ‘Luz’ means withdrawal and thus disjunction” (AC 3730).