Genesis 28

And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Isaac summoned Jacob, his heart filled with love and concern. He blessed him, his voice firm yet gentle, and instructed him, "Jacob, my son, do not marry a woman from Canaan."

Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.

Get up, journey to Padanaram, to your grandfather Bethuel's home. There, among your uncle Laban's daughters, find yourself a wife.

And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;

May the Divine shower you with blessings, make you fruitful and give you many descendants, so that you become a great company of peoples.

And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.

May you receive Abraham's blessings, for you and your descendants. May you possess the land where you now live as a foreigner, the land God gifted to Abraham.

And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

With a heavy heart, Isaac bid farewell to his son Jacob, sending him off to Padanaram to live with Laban, his uncle, who was the son of Bethuel the Syrian and brother to Rebekah, the mother of both Jacob and Esau.

When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

When Esau realized that his father, Isaac, had blessed his brother Jacob and sent him off to Padanaram to find a wife, he also understood that in blessing him Isaac had specifically instructed Jacob not to marry a woman from Canaan.

And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;

Jacob, filled with respect and love, heeded the words of his parents and set off on his journey to Padanaram.

And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;

Esau realized that his father, Isaac, was not fond of the Canaanite women.

Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

Esau, filled with determination, went to Ishmael. In addition to the wives he already had, he took Mahalath, Ishmael's daughter and Abraham's granddaughter, Nebajoth's sister, to be his wife.

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

Jacob, filled with determination, left Beersheba, setting his sights on the distant Haran.

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

He stumbled upon a secluded spot and decided to stay the night as darkness had already fallen. Using the stones around him, he made a makeshift pillow and settled down to sleep in that very place.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

In his dream, he saw a ladder rooted in the earth, its top touching the sky. God's angels were moving up and down on it.

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

Suddenly, the LORD appeared, standing tall and said, "I am your God, the same God of your father Abraham, and of Isaac. The land you're lying on, I promise to give it to you and your descendants."

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Your descendants will be as countless as earth's dust, spreading in every direction - west, east, north, and south. Through you and your offspring, every family on earth will be blessed.

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Trust me, I am always with you. I will protect you wherever you go and guide you back home. I won't abandon you until I fulfill all the promises I've made to you.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

Jacob jolted awake from his slumber, a realization washing over him. He exclaimed, "God was here all along, and I was oblivious!"

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Overwhelmed with fear, he exclaimed, "This place is awe-inspiring! Surely, it's God's dwelling and the entrance to heaven."

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

Jacob, filled with a sense of purpose, woke up at the break of dawn. He picked up the stone he'd used as a pillow, stood it upright as a monument, and lovingly anointed it with oil.

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.

He named the place Bethel, though originally, it was known as Luz.

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

Jacob made a heartfelt promise, saying, "If God stays by my side, guides me on my journey, provides me with food to eat and clothes to wear,

So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

When I return home safely, I'll know the Lord is truly my God.

And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.

This rock I've chosen as a pillar will be God's home. Whatever you bless me with, I promise to return a tenth to you.