Genesis 28:20

Plain English Version

Jacob prayed to God. He said, “God, you know that I’m walking a long way to Haran. Please stay with me and look after me while I’m away. Please give me food to eat and clothes to wear. And please keep me safe, so that one day I can go back home to my family.” Then Jacob made promises to God. He said, “God, if you will do all those things that I asked, then I will respect you properly, and you Yahweh will be my God. And this special stone that I put here, it will show people that you are here in this place, and people can come here to show you respect. And I promise that whenever you give me good things, I will always split them up into 10 parts and give one part back to you.”

Cross References

Genesis 28:15

You can be sure that I will be with you wherever you go. I will look after you and I will keep you safe. Right now, you are going to another country. But one day, I will bring you back to this country again. Yes, I will stay with you, and I will keep all these promises that I’m making to you.”

Genesis 31:13

I am God. A long time ago, I came to you at the place called Bethel. That’s the place where you poured olive oil on top of a stone to show that it was a special place, and you made promises to me. Now leave this country straight away, and go back to your home country.” ’ ”

John 1:16

That man is really good. And when he came, he was really good to us. He is like that. He is good to us all the time, even when we do nothing good for him.

Acts 18:18

Paul kept on living in Corinth for some time, then he said goodbye to the Christians there, and he went to the town called Centria, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him. After they got to Centria, Paul cut all the hair off his head. You see, at some time before this, Paul made a strong promise to God, and then at this time, he did what he promised to do. And in Jewish culture, after people finish doing what they promise to God, they cut off their hair. After that, Paul got on a ship to go to Syria country, and Priscilla and Aquila went with him.

1 Samuel 1:11

“God, you are the boss of everything. I am just your worker. I’m sad. Please help me. Don’t forget about me. I want to ask you this. Let me have a little boy. If you do that, I’ll give him back to you, so he can work for you until he gets old. Nobody will cut his hair, so that other people will see that he belongs to you.”

1 Samuel 1:28

Now I want to give him to God. He will work for God until he gets old.” After she told him that, they showed respect to God.