Genesis 28 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

So Isaac called Jacob, gave him his good word, and commanded him, "Don't marry a Canaanite woman.

Get up, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take a wife from there -- from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

And may El Shaddai speak his good word over you, make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become a community of peoples.

May he give you the favor spoken over Abraham -- to you and your descendants with you -- so that you take possession of the land where you've been living as an outsider, the land God gave to Abraham."

Then Isaac sent Jacob off, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah -- the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Now Esau saw that Isaac had spoken his good word over Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that when he spoke that word over him, he commanded him, "Don't marry a Canaanite woman,"

and that Jacob had listened to his father and mother and gone to Paddan-aram.

Esau realized that the Canaanite women were displeasing to his father Isaac.

So Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth, in addition to the wives he already had.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and set out for Haran.

He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from that place, put it under his head, and lay down to sleep.

And he dreamed -- and there it was: a stairway set up on the earth with its top reaching into the heavens, and the messengers of God were going up and coming down on it.

And there was Yahweh, standing above it, and he said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your grandfather and the God of Isaac. The land you are lying on -- I will give it to you and to your descendants.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth -- you will spread out to the west and east, to the north and south. And through you and your descendants, every family on earth will find their lives enriched."

"Look -- I am with you. I will watch over you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything I've promised you."

Jacob woke up from his sleep and said, "Yahweh is actually in this place -- and I had no idea!"

He was shaken, and said, "How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than the house of God -- this is the gate of heaven!"

Jacob got up early in the morning, took the stone he had put under his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it.

He named that place Bethel -- though the town had previously been called Luz.

Then Jacob made a solemn promise, saying, "If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey I'm taking, and give me food to eat and clothes to wear,

and I return safely to my father's house -- then Yahweh will be my God.

And this stone that I've set up as a pillar will be God's house, and everything you give me, I will give a tenth of it back to you."