Genesis 28
Open in the reader1So He-Laughs called for Heel-Grabber and blessed him. “Do not take a wife from the child of Humbled women,” he commanded.
2“Go at once to Plain-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Man-of-God, and take a wife from among the daughters of White, your mother’s brother.
3May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
4And may He give the blessing of Father-of-a-Multitude to you and your descendants, so that you may possess the land where you dwell as a foreigner, the land God gave to Father-of-a-Multitude.”
5So He-Laughs sent Heel-Grabber to Plain-aram, to White son of Man-of-God the Highland-One, the brother of Rebekah, who was the mother of Heel-Grabber and Hairy.
6Now Hairy learned that He-Laughs had blessed Heel-Grabber and sent him to Plain-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Humbledite woman,”
7and that Heel-Grabber had obeyed his father and mother and gone to Plain-aram.
8And seeing that his father He-Laughs disapproved of the child of Humbled women,
9Hairy went to God-Hears and married Sickness, the sister of Fruitfulnesses and daughter of Father-of-a-Multitude’s son God-Hears, in addition to the wives he already had.
10Meanwhile Heel-Grabber left Well-of-Oath and set out for Parched.
11On reaching a certain place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. And taking one of the stones from that place, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12And Heel-Grabber had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s messengers were going up and down the ladder.
13And there at the top He-Who-Is was standing and saying, “I am He-Who-Is, the God of your father Father-of-a-Multitude and the God of He-Laughs. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
14Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
15Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16When Heel-Grabber woke up, he said, “Surely He-Who-Is is in this place, and I was unaware of it.”
17And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!”
18Early the next morning, Heel-Grabber took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
19and he called that place House-of-God, though previously the city had been named Almond.
20Then Heel-Grabber made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
21so that I may return safely to my father’s house, then He-Who-Is will be my God.
22And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”