Jacob flees toward Haran. He stops for the night, a stone for his pillow. And he dreams: a stairway reaching to heaven, angels ascending and descending, and the Lord standing above it. "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your offspring." The promise passes to the deceiver. Jacob wakes terrified: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." He names it Bethel—house of God. The con man encounters grace. The fugitive receives the covenant. Heaven touches earth in the most unlikely place.

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