28:16 Then Jacob woke up 2 and thought, 3 “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!” 28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”
28:18 Early 4 in the morning Jacob 5 took the stone he had placed near his head 6 and set it up as a sacred stone. 7 Then he poured oil on top of it. 28:19 He called that place Bethel, 8 although the former name of the town was Luz. 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food 9 to eat and clothing to wear, 28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, 10 then the Lord will become my God. 28:22 Then this stone 11 that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely 12 give you back a tenth of everything you give me.” 13
1 tn Heb “Look, I [am] with you.” The clause is a nominal clause; the verb to be supplied could be present (as in the translation) or future, “Look, I [will be] with you” (cf. NEB).
2 tn Heb “woke up from his sleep.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “said.”
3 tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.
6 tn Heb “standing stone.”
4 tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).
5 tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.
6 tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.”
7 tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement.
8 tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis.
9 tn Heb “and all which you give to me I will surely give a tenth of it to you.” The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/object) highlights this statement as well.