genesis 28:13-22 chiastic structure

Read Genesis 28:10-22 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph division

Gen 28:10-32:2 {p} God fulfills His promise to Jacob (wives + children + flocks)

Gen 28:13-22 chiastic structure

1a) Gen 28:13a And behold, YHVH stood beside him and said;

1b) Gen 28:13b-15 YHVH’s vow to Jacob: I am with you + will keep you + bring you back;

1a) Gen 28:13b-14 “I am YHVH the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (the promise);
1b) Gen 28:15a Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go;
central axis) Gen 28:15b And will bring you back to this land;
2b) Gen 28:15c For I will not leave you;
2a) Gen 28:15d Until I have done what I have spoken to you;”

1c) Gen 28:16-17 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely YHVH is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

central axis) Gen 28:18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it;

2c) Gen 28:19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously;

2b) Gen 28:20-21a Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace;

2a) Gen 28:21b-22 Then YHVH shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

The NKJV of Gen 28:13 says that YHVH stood above the ladder, in other words, in heaven where the top of the ladder was. But the Hebrew Bible in English says that YHVH stood beside Jacob; instead of “above it” – i.e., the ladder, as the NKJV has it, the Hebrew translates to “beside him” – i.e., beside Jacob. So then how does the A pair match? YHVH stood beside Jacob (to be with him and to keep him) and Jacob stood beside YHVH (to worship Him as God). It is a picture of a reciprocal relationship of faithfulness and loyalty. Isn’t that beautiful?