Genesis 28:15-22

28:15 I am with you! ¹  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 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 

[28:15]  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).

[28:16]  ² tn Heb “woke up from his sleep.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[28:16]  ³ tn Heb “said.”

[28:18]  ³ tn Heb “and he got up early…and he took.”

[28:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:18]  ⁵ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 11.

[28:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[28:19]  ⁴ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[28:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[28:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.”

[28:22]  ⁷ tn The disjunctive clause structure (conjunction + noun/subject) is used to highlight the statement.

[28:22]  ⁸ tn The infinitive absolute is used before the finite verb for emphasis.

[28:22]  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.