009 Jacob's Ladder - A Bible Story for Children

Genesis 27:42-28:22

Rebecca saw how much Esau hated Jacob, and went to warn her younger son. "Leave here and go to my brother Laban's house in Haran," she said. "You can return when Esau has forgotten his anger." To Isaac she said that Jacob was leaving because she did not want him to stay and marry a Canaanite. So Isaac blessed Jacob and gave him instructions for the journey, and asked God to make Jacob the father of a great nation.

Jacob set out for Haran with a heavy heart, and traveled from daybreak to sundown. Then, because it was too dark to go any further, he settled down in a rocky place, using a few stones for a pillow. Jacob was so tired that he fell asleep immediately.

As he lay sleeping, Jacob had a wonderful dream. Before him he saw a ladder that rested on the ground and stretched all the way up to heaven. And angels were climbing up the ladder toward heaven and down the ladder to earth.

Then Jacob dreamed that God was standing right beside him, saying, "I am the God of your grandfather Abraham, and of you father Isaac. This land where you sleep will someday belong to you and your children, who will be like the dust of the earth, spreading to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.

"And remember that wherever you may go and whatever may happen to you, I shall be with you, and shall help you. For I shall not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised to do."

Jacob woke up frightened. "Surely," he thought, "this place is the Lord's house, and I did not know it."

Sunrise was still hours away, but Jacob, trembling, slept no more. He piled up the stones he had used for a pillow, and poured holy oil over them to let all the world know that God had been there.

Then Jacob promised, "If God will be with me, and help me, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and let me return in peace to my father's house, I shall follow the Lord faithfully to the end of my days."

Category: Children's Bible Stories