Scourge of the Garden

Genesis 28:16-22

¹⁶ When Jacob woke from his sleep, he thought to himself, The LORD is definitely in this place, but I didn’t know it. ¹⁷ He was terrified and thought, This sacred place is awesome. It’s none other than God’s house and the entrance to heaven. ¹⁸ After Jacob got up early in the morning, he took the stone that he had put near his head, set it up as a sacred pillar, and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He named that sacred place Bethel, though Luz was the city’s original name. ²⁰ Jacob made a solemn promise: “If God is with me and protects me on this trip I’m taking, and gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, ²¹ and I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God. ²² This stone that I’ve set up as a sacred pillar will be God’s house, and of everything you give me I will give a tenth back to you.”