Skip to the text

Genesis · Unlocked Literal Bible

Genesis 28 Unlocked Literal Bible

Leer en español
About ULB
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text (not verified)
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2017
  • CC BY-SA 4.0

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women. 2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take a wife from there, one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a multitude of peoples. 4 May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your descendants after you, that you may inherit the land where you have been living, which God gave to Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob away. Jacob went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother. 6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take a wife from there. He also saw that Isaac had blessed him and given him a command, saying, “You must not take a wife from the women of Canaan.” 7 Esau also saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Paddan Aram. 8 Esau saw that the women of Canaan did not please Isaac his father. 9 So he went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. 10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones in that place, put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 He dreamed and saw a stairway set up on the earth. Its top reached to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, “I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread far out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. Through you and through your descendants will all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you into this land again; for I will not leave you. I will do all that I have promised to you.” 16 Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How terrifying is this place! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” 18 Jacob arose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head. He set it up as a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city originally was Luz. 20 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will protect me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to wear, 21 so that I return safely to my father's house, then Yahweh will be my God. 22 Then this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be a sacred stone. From everything that you give me, I will surely give a tenth back to you.”

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

  • Jacob

    Father of the tribes

    He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49

  • Mahalath

    Ishmael's daughter; Esau's wife

    Ishmael's daughter and the sister of Nebaioth, whom Esau married in addition to his other wives; Genesis 36:3 gives her name as Basemath and says she bore Reuel.

    Cited in the guide: Genesis 28:8–9; Genesis 36:3; Genesis 36:10

Places

  • Bethel

    Today: West Bank (central hills)

    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

    Today: Southern Turkey (Upper Mesopotamia)

    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. 1 Genesis 24:3; Genesis 28:3–4; Genesis 27:46; Genesis 6:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14–16
  2. 2 Genesis 25:20; Hosea 12:12; Genesis 24:50; Genesis 22:20–23; Genesis 24:15–24
  3. 3 Genesis 48:3; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 17:1–6; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 22:17–18
  4. 4 Galatians 3:14; Genesis 12:7; Ephesians 1:3; Genesis 17:6–8; Genesis 12:1–3
  5. 6 Genesis 28:1; Genesis 27:33
  6. 7 Ephesians 6:3; Exodus 20:12; Proverbs 30:17; Leviticus 19:3; Genesis 27:43
  7. 8 Genesis 24:3; Genesis 26:34–35; Genesis 28:1; 1 Samuel 8:6
  8. 9 Genesis 36:3; Genesis 25:13–17; Genesis 26:34; Genesis 36:13; Genesis 36:18
  9. 10 Acts 7:2; Genesis 32:10; Genesis 11:31; Hosea 12:12
  10. 11 Genesis 28:18; Matthew 8:20; 2 Corinthians 1:5; Genesis 31:46
  11. 12 John 1:51; Genesis 32:1–2; Numbers 12:6; Job 33:15–16; Genesis 15:1
  12. 13 Genesis 13:15; Genesis 35:12; Genesis 48:3; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 35:1
  13. 14 Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:18; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 13:16
  14. 15 Joshua 1:5; Isaiah 41:10; Jeremiah 1:19; Deuteronomy 31:6; Genesis 26:24
  15. 16 Joshua 5:15; Job 9:11; Exodus 3:5; Exodus 15:11; Job 33:14
  16. 17 1 Timothy 3:15; Genesis 35:1–13; Ecclesiastes 5:1; Exodus 3:6; Genesis 28:22
  17. 18 Genesis 35:14; Genesis 31:13; Genesis 31:45; Leviticus 8:10–12; Genesis 35:20
  18. 19 Genesis 48:3; Hosea 12:4–5; Genesis 35:1; Hosea 4:15; Judges 1:22–26
  19. 20 1 Timothy 6:8; 2 Samuel 15:8; Genesis 31:13; John 1:16; Psalm 66:13
  20. 21 Deuteronomy 26:17; Judges 11:31; Exodus 15:2; 2 Samuel 15:8; 2 Samuel 19:24
  21. 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).

  1. Quotes verse 28:1–4 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XVI, Chapters 37–38)

    … 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)

  2. Quotes verse 28:20 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily XXI)

    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)

  3. Quotes verse 28:16 Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (Chapters XXV–XXVI)

    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)

  4. Quotes verse 28:11 Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermon LXXII)

    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)

  5. Quotes verse 28:12–18 Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John (Chapter I — 32, 33)

    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)