28:20 If God will be with me. Jacob’s reaction contrasts strikingly with Abraham’s (15:6). Though Jacob’s journey of faith had begun, he still had far to go. Note that God’s unconditional promises of vv. 13–15 are here transformed into a conditional bargain: if God does His part then Jacob will acknowledge Him as God (v. 21). God had sovereignly chosen Jacob in the womb (25:23 and note), and now He graciously bestows the patriarchal promise quite apart from Jacob’s faith; that too must be the gift of God (17:2 note).