When Jacob’s brother , Esau, realized he had been tricked out of both his birthright and his blessing by Jacob, he was furious and swore to kill his brother. So, at the urging of his parents, Jacob fled to Syria to go to Laban, his mother's brother. On his
way north, Jacob spent the night at a certain place. There, after taking a stone and using it as a pillow to help him sleep, he had a vivid dream. In his dream he saw a ladder reaching from the earth up to heaven, and angels of the Lord were going up and down. At the top of the ladder stood the Lord, who said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants this land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread east and west, north and south, and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.”
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he was afraid and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it. How awesome is this place! It is the house of God, and the gate of heaven!" So he took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it, calling that place Bethel. Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey and bring me back to my father's house in peace, ... then the Lord will be my God and this stone will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” So God repeated to Jacob the same promises that he had given to Abraham and Isaac before him. Then he led him on to his uncle's house in Syria.