Study Desk

"If you should mistreat (humiliate, oppress) my daughters, or if you should take other wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us [as a witness], see and remember, God is witness between you and me."

"The God of Abraham [your father] and the God of Nahor [my father], and the god [the image of worship] of their father [Terah, an idolater], judge between us." But Jacob swore [only] by [the one true God] the Fear of his father Isaac.

Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him].

Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,'

And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, "For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away."

Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So Jacob replied, "They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Jacob replied, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

"Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want]." So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled [years ago] from Esau your brother."

then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone."

As they journeyed, there was a great [supernatural] terror [sent from God] on the cities around them, and [for that reason] the Canaanites did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

There he built an altar [to worship the LORD], and called the place El-bethel (God of the House of God), because there God had revealed Himself to him when he escaped from his brother.

Then God [in a visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.

Again God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." So he was called Israel.

And God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall be born of your loins.

Then God ascended from Jacob in the place where He had spoken with him.

Jacob set up a pillar (memorial, monument) in the place where he had talked with God, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering [of wine] on it; he also poured oil on it [to declare it sacred for God's purpose].

So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (the House of God).

"He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?"