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[278]
Now Jacob was sent by his mother to Mesopotamia, in order to marry
Laban her brother's daughter (which marriage was permitted by Isaac, on
account of his obsequiousness to the desires of his wife); and he accordingly
journeyed through the land of Canaan; and because he hated the people of
that country, he would not lodge with any of them, but took up his lodging
in the open air, and laid his head on a heap of stones that he had gathered
together. At which time he saw in his sleep such a vision standing by him:
- he seemed to see a ladder that reached from the earth unto heaven, and
persons descending upon the ladder that seemed more excellent than human;
and at last God himself stood above it, and was plainly visible to him,
who, calling him by his name, spake to him in these words: —
"O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who art the son of a good
father, and grandson of one who had obtained a great reputation for his
eminent virtue, to be dejected at thy present circumstances, but to hope
for better times, for thou shalt have great abundance of all good things,
by my assistance: for I brought Abraham hither, out of Mesopotamia, when
he was driven away by his kinsmen, and I made thy father a happy man, nor
will I bestow a lesser degree of happiness on thyself: be of good courage,
therefore, and under my conduct proceed on this thy journey, for the marriage
thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou shalt have
children of good characters, but their multitude shall be innumerable;
and they shall leave what they have to a still more numerous posterity,
to whom, and to whose posterity, I give the dominion of all the land, and
their posterity shall fill the entire earth and sea, so far as the sun
beholds them: but do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid of the many
labors thou must undergo, for by my providence I will direct thee what
thou art to do in the time present, and still much more in the time to
come."
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