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¹ Yitzchak called Ya`akov, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Kana`an. ² Arise, go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Betu'el your mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Lavan, your mother's brother. ³ May El Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples, ⁴ and give you the blessing of Avraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Avraham." ⁵ Yitzchak sent Ya`akov away. He went to Paddan-Aram to Lavan, son of Betu'el the Arammian, Rivka's brother, Ya`akov's and Esav's mother.

⁶ Now Esav saw that Yitzchak had blessed Ya`akov and sent him away to Paddan-Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Kana`an," ⁷ and that Ya`akov obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-Aram. <sup>8</sup> Esav saw that the daughters of Kana`an didn't please Yitzchak, his father. ⁹ Esav went to Yishma'el, and took, besides the wives that he had, Machalat the daughter of Yishma'el, Avraham's son, the sister of Nevayot, to be his wife.

¹⁰ Ya`akov went out from Be'er-Sheva, 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 of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set up on the eretz, and the top of it reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³ Behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Avraham your father, and the God of Yitzchak. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed. ¹⁴ Your seed will be as the dust of the eretz, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the eretz be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."

¹⁶ Ya`akov awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I didn't know it." <sup>17</sup> He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven." <sup>18</sup> Ya`akov rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Beit-El, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Ya`akov 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 clothing to put on, ²¹ so that I come again to my father's house in shalom, and the LORD will be my God, ²² then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."