Genesis 28:1-12 ▼

1 Later, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, instructing him, |Don't marry a wife from the local Canaanite women.

2 Instead, get up, travel to Paddan-aram, and visit the household of Bethuel, your mother's father. Marry one of Laban's daughters, since he's your mother's brother.

3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants become a whole group of people.

4 May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived that God gave to Abraham.|

5 So Isaac sent Jacob off toward Paddan-aram to visit Bethuel's son Laban, the Aramean and brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 Esau noticed that after Isaac had blessed Jacob as he was sending him off to Paddan-aram to marry a wife from there, he had instructed Jacob, |Don't marry a Canaanite woman.|

7 After Jacob had obeyed his father and mother's instructions to set out for Paddan-aram,

8 Esau realized that Canaan women didn't please his father Isaac,

9 so he went to Abraham's son Ishmael and married Ishmael's daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth.

10 Meanwhile, Jacob had left Beer-sheba and was on his way to Haran.

11 He reached a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun was setting. He found a stone there, used it for a pillow, and slept there for the night,

12 when he had a dream! He saw a raised highway that had been built with its ending point on earth and its beginning point in heaven. God's angels were ascending and descending on it.