Study Desk

I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation.

The Lord was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping.

Then Jacob became frightened and said, "This is a fearsome place! It must be the house of God and the ladder to heaven."

When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up for a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God,

Jacob solemnly promised God, "If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes

and bring me safely home again, you will be my God.

But Jacob became upset with Rachel and answered, "Don't blame me! I'm not God."

Rachel named him Dan, because she said, "God has answered my prayers. He has judged me and given me a son."

and God answered Leah's prayers by giving her a fifth son.

Leah shouted, "God has rewarded me for letting Jacob marry my servant," and she named the boy Issachar.

she exclaimed, "God has given me a wonderful gift, and my husband will praise me for giving him six sons." So she named the boy Zebulun.

Finally, God remembered Rachel—he answered her prayer by giving her a son. "God has taken away my disgrace," she said.

and he told them: Your father isn't as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God my ancestors worshiped has been on my side.

and that he keeps cheating me by changing my wages time after time. But God has protected me.

That's how God has taken sheep and goats from your father and given them to me.

and I am the God you worshiped at Bethel, when you poured olive oil on a rock and made a promise to me. Leave here right away and return to the land where you were born."

Now do whatever God tells you to do. Even the property God took from our father and gave to you really belongs to us and our children.

But God appeared to Laban in a dream that night and warned, "Don't say a word to Jacob. Don't make a threat or a promise."

I could easily hurt you, but the God your father worshiped has warned me not to make any threats or promises.

If the fearsome God worshiped by Abraham and my father Isaac had not been on my side, you would have sent me away without a thing. But God saw my hard work, and he knew the trouble I was in, so he helped me. Then last night he told you how wrong you were.