1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying: Take not a wife of the stock of Chanaan: 2 But 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. 3 And God almighty bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee: that thou mayst be a multitude of people. 4 And give the blessings of Abraham to thee, and to thy seed after thee: that thou mayst possess the land of thy sojournment, which he promised to thy grandfather. 5 And 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. 6 And 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: 7 And that Jacob obeying his parents was gone into Syria: 8 Experiencing also that his father was not well pleased with the daughters of Chanaan: 9 He went to Ismael, and took to wife, besides them he had before, Maheleth the daughter of Ismael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nabajoth. 10 But Jacob being departed from Bersabee, went on to Haran. 11 And 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. 12 And 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; 13 And 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. 14 And 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. 15 And 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. 16 And when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. 17 And trembling he said: How terrible is this place! this is no other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven. 18 And 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. 19 And he called the name of the city Bethel, which before was called Luza. 20 And 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, 21 And I shall return prosperously to my father’s house: the Lord shall be my God: 22 And this stone, which I have set up for a title, shall be called the house of God: and of all things that thou shalt give to me, I will offer tithes to thee.
Genesis · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Genesis 28 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Places
Bethel
Bethel ('house of God') is usually identified with Beitin, north of Jerusalem (location approximate). Jacob's ladder vision and Jeroboam's calf shrine are set here.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 28:19; Genesis 12:8; 1 Kings 12:29
Haran
A caravan city in Upper Mesopotamia and the family's waypoint between Ur and Canaan. Abraham departed from here for Canaan; Jacob later sojourned with Laban nearby.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 11:31; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 28:10
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 24:3; Genesis 28:3–4; Genesis 27:46; Genesis 6:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14–16
- 2 Genesis 25:20; Hosea 12:12; Genesis 24:50; Genesis 22:20–23; Genesis 24:15–24
- 3 Genesis 48:3; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 17:1–6; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 22:17–18
- 4 Galatians 3:14; Genesis 12:7; Ephesians 1:3; Genesis 17:6–8; Genesis 12:1–3
- 6 Genesis 28:1; Genesis 27:33
- 7 Ephesians 6:3; Exodus 20:12; Proverbs 30:17; Leviticus 19:3; Genesis 27:43
- 8 Genesis 24:3; Genesis 26:34–35; Genesis 28:1; 1 Samuel 8:6
- 9 Genesis 36:3; Genesis 25:13–17; Genesis 26:34; Genesis 36:13; Genesis 36:18
- 10 Acts 7:2; Genesis 32:10; Genesis 11:31; Hosea 12:12
- 11 Genesis 28:18; Matthew 8:20; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Genesis 31:46
- 12 John 1:51; Genesis 32:1–2; Numbers 12:6; Job 33:15–16; Genesis 15:1
- 13 Genesis 13:15; Genesis 35:12; Genesis 48:3; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 35:1
- 14 Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 13:16
- 15 Joshua 1:5; Isaiah 41:10; Jeremiah 1:19; Deuteronomy 31:6; Genesis 26:24
- 16 Joshua 5:15; Job 9:11; Exodus 3:5; Exodus 15:11; Job 33:14
- 17 1 Timothy 3:15; Genesis 35:1–13; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Exodus 3:6; Genesis 28:22
- 18 Genesis 35:14; Genesis 31:13; Genesis 31:45; Leviticus 8:10–12; Genesis 35:20
- 19 Genesis 48:3; Hosea 12:4–5; Genesis 35:1; Hosea 4:15; Judges 1:22–26
- 20 1 Timothy 6:8; 2 Samuel 15:8; Genesis 31:13; John 1:16; Psalm 66:13
- 21 Deuteronomy 26:17; Judges 11:31; Exodus 15:2; 2 Samuel 15:8; 2 Samuel 19:24
- 22 Genesis 35:7; Genesis 14:20; Deuteronomy 14:22–23; Leviticus 27:30–33; Genesis 35:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… thee, and increase thee, and multiply thee; and thou shalt be an assembly of peoples; and give to thee the blessing of Abraham thy father, and to thy seed after thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou dwellest, which God gave unto Abraham." Now we understand here that the seed of Jacob is separated from Isaac's other seed …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Dost thou not hear him praying and saying, "If the Lord give me bread to eat and raiment to put on?" which was not the part of one taking thought, but of one seeking all of God.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
From the Lord himself in the words "The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." This place Jacob saw and said "The Lord is in this place." It follows that the Spirit is verily the place of the saints and the saint is the proper place for the Spirit, offering himself as he does for the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
I mean in Genesis. When Jacob slept at a certain place, he put a stone at his head; and in his sleep he saw a ladder reaching from earth even unto heaven; and the Lord was resting upon it; and Angels were ascending and descending by it.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)