Daily Reading for Monday, July 8th, 2013

Reading 1, Genesis 28:10-22

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

¹¹ When he had reached a certain place, he stopped there for the night, since the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of that place, he made it his pillow and lay down where he was.

¹² He had a dream: there was a ladder, planted on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; and God's angels were going up and down on it.

¹³ And there was Yahweh, standing beside him and saying, 'I, Yahweh, am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The ground on which you are lying I shall give to you and your descendants.

¹⁴ Your descendants will be as plentiful as the dust on the ground; you will spread out to west and east, to north and south, and all clans on earth will bless themselves by you and your descendants.

¹⁵ Be sure, I am with you; I shall keep you safe wherever you go, and bring you back to this country, for I shall never desert you until I have done what I have promised you.'

¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Truly, Yahweh is in this place and I did not know!'

¹⁷ He was afraid and said, 'How awe-inspiring this place is! This is nothing less than the abode of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'

¹⁸ Early next morning, Jacob took the stone he had used for his pillow, and set it up as a pillar, pouring oil over the top of it.

¹⁹ He named the place Bethel, but before that the town had been called Luz.

²⁰ Jacob then made this vow, 'If God remains with me and keeps me safe on this journey I am making, if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,

²¹ and if I come home safe to my father's home, then Yahweh shall be my God.

²² This stone I have set up as a pillar is to be a house of God, and I shall faithfully pay you a tenth part of everything you give me.'