Chapter 28

¹And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying: Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan: ²But go, and take a journey to Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bathuel thy mother's father, and take thee a wife thence of the daughters of Laban thy uncle. ³And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people. ⁴And give the blessings of Abrabam to thee, and to thy seed after thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he promised to thy grandfather. ⁵And when Isaac had sent him away, he took his journey and went to Mesopotamia of Syria to Laban the son of Bathuel the Syrian, brother to Rebecca his mother. ⁶And Esau seeing that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, to marry a wife thence; and that after the blessing he had charged him, saying: Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Chanaan: ⁷And that Jacob obeying his parents was gone into Syria: ⁸Experiencing also that his father was not well pleased with the daughters of Chanaan: ⁹He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before, Maheleth the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nabajoth. ¹⁰But Jacob being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran. ¹¹And when he was come to a certain place, and would rest in it after sunset, he took of the stones that lay there, and putting under his head, slept in the same place. ¹²And he saw in his sleep a ladder standing upon the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven: the angels also of God ascending and descending by it; ¹³And the Lord leaning upon the ladder, saying to him: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac; the land, wherein thou sleepest, I will give to thee and to thy seed. ¹⁴And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth: thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and IN THEE and thy seed all the tribes of the earth SHALL BE BLESSED. ¹⁵And I will be thy keeper whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land: neither will I leave thee, till I shall have accomplished all that I have said. ¹⁶And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. ¹⁷And trembling he said: How terrible is this place! this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. ¹⁸And Jacob, arising in the morning, took the stone, which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was called Luza. ²⁰And he made a vow, saying: If God shall be with me, and shall keep me in the way by which I walk, and shall give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹And I shall return prosperously to my father's house: the Lord shall be my God: ²²And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.