Genesis 28:12-22

28:12 and had a dream. ¹  He saw ²  a stairway ³  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it 28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. ⁴  I will give you and your descendants the ground ⁵  you are lying on. 28:14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, ⁶  and you will spread out ⁷  to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ⁸  using your name and that of your descendants. ⁹  28:15 I am with you! ¹⁰  I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”

28:16 Then Jacob woke up ¹¹  and thought, ¹²  “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 ¹³  in the morning Jacob ¹⁴  took the stone he had placed near his head ¹⁵  and set it up as a sacred stone. ¹⁶  Then he poured oil on top of it. 28:19 He called that place Bethel, ¹⁷  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 ¹⁸  to eat and clothing to wear, 28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, ¹⁹  then the Lord will become my God. 28:22 Then this stone ²⁰  that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely ²¹  give you back a tenth of everything you give me.” ²² 

Genesis 35:7

35:7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel ²³  because there God had revealed himself ²⁴  to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

[28:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and dreamed.”

[28:12]  ² tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52).

[28:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.

[28:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.

[28:13]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.

[28:14]  ⁶ tn This is the same Hebrew word translated “ground” in the preceding verse.

[28:14]  ⁷ tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew; Jacob is addressed as the representative of his descendants.

[28:14]  ⁸ tn Theoretically the Niphal stem can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Jacob were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in other formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless (i.e., pronounce blessings upon) themselves/one another.” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 28:14 predicts that Jacob will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae (see Gen 12:2 and 18:18 as well, where Abram/Abraham receives this promise). For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[28:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they will pronounce blessings by you, all the families of the earth, and by your offspring.”

[28:15]  ¹⁰ 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).

[28:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “woke up from his sleep.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[28:16]  ¹² tn Heb “said.”

[28:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”

[28:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:18]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.

[28:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[28:19]  ¹⁷ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[28:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[28:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.”

[28:22]  ²⁰ tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement.

[28:22]  ²¹ tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis.

[28:22]  ²² 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.

[35:7]  ²³ sn The name El-Bethel means “God of Bethel.”

[35:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.