Genesis 35–36

God Blesses Jacob at Bethel

35^*God said to Jacob, “Go to Bethel at once, and live there. Build an altar there to me, the God who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that you have; purify yourselves and put on clean clothes. ³We are going to leave here and go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who helped me in the time of my trouble and who has been with me everywhere I have gone.” ⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and also the earrings that they were wearing. He buried them beneath the oak tree near Shechem.

⁵When Jacob and his sons started to leave, great fear fell on the people of the nearby towns, and they did not pursue them. ⁶Jacob came with all his people to Luz, which is now known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan. ⁷He built an altar there and named the place after the God of Bethel, because God had revealed himself to him there when he was running away from his brother. ⁸Rebecca’s nurse Deborah died and was buried beneath the oak south of Bethel. So it was named “Oak of Weeping”.

⁹When Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ^10*God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but from now on it will be Israel.” So God named him Israel. ^11*And God said to him, “I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you, and you will be the ancestor of kings. ^12*I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, and I will also give it to your descendants after you.” ¹³Then God left him. ^14*There, where God had spoken to him, Jacob set up a memorial stone and consecrated it by pouring wine and olive oil on it. ^15*He named the place Bethel.

The Death of Rachel

¹⁶Jacob and his family left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, the time came for Rachel to have her baby, and she was having difficult labour. ¹⁷When her labour pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Rachel; it’s another boy.” ¹⁸But she was dying, and as she breathed her last, she named her son Benoni,^o but his father named him Benjamin.^p

¹⁹When Rachel died, she was buried beside the road to Ephrath, now known as Bethlehem. ²⁰Jacob set up a memorial stone there, and it still marks Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹Jacob moved on and set up his camp on the other side of the tower of Eder.

The Sons of Jacob

^22*While Jacob was living in that land, Reuben had sexual intercourse with Bilhah, one of his father’s concubines; Jacob heard about it and was furious.^q

Jacob had twelve sons. ²³The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s eldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These sons were born in Mesopotamia.

The Death of Isaac

^27*Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. ²⁸Isaac lived to be 180 years old ²⁹and died at a ripe old age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

The Descendants of Esau

36These are the descendants of Esau, also called Edom. ^2*Esau married Canaanite women: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah son^r of Zibeon the Hivite; ^3*and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth. ⁴Adah bore Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons were born to Esau in the land of Canaan.

⁶Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the people of his house, together with all his livestock and all the possessions he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went away from his brother Jacob to another land. ⁷He left because the land where he and Jacob were living was not able to support them; they had too much livestock and could no longer stay together. ⁸So Esau lived in the hill country of Edom.

⁹These are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites. ^10–13Esau’s wife Adah bore him one son, Eliphaz, and Eliphaz had five sons: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. And by another wife, Timna, he had one more son, Amalek.

Esau’s wife Basemath bore him one son, Reuel, and Reuel had four sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

¹⁴Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah son^s of Zibeon, bore him three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the tribes descended from Esau. Esau’s first son Eliphaz was the ancestor of the following tribes: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were all descendants of Esau’s wife Adah.

¹⁷Esau’s son Reuel was the ancestor of the following tribes: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were all descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.

¹⁸The following tribes were descended from Esau by his wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁹All these tribes were descended from Esau.

The Descendants of Seir

^20–21The original inhabitants of the land of Edom were divided into tribes which traced their ancestry to the following descendants of Seir, a Horite: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

²²Lotan was the ancestor of the clans of Hori and Heman. (Lotan had a sister named Timna.)

²³Shobal was the ancestor of the clans of Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴Zibeon had two sons, Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was taking care of his father’s donkeys.) ^25–26Anah was the father of Dishon, who was the ancestor of the clans of Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. Anah also had a daughter named Oholibamah.

²⁷Ezer was the ancestor of the clans of Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸Dishan was the ancestor of the clans of Uz and Aran.

^29–30These are the Horite tribes in the land of Edom: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

The Kings of Edom

^31–39Before there were any kings in Israel, the following kings ruled over the land of Edom in succession:

Bela son of Beor from Dinhabah

Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah

Husham from the region of Teman

Hadad son of Bedad from Avith (he defeated the Midianites in a battle in the country of Moab)

Samlah from Masrekah Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River

Baal Hanan son of Achbor

Hadad from Pau (his wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Mezahab)

⁴⁰Esau was the ancestor of the following Edomite tribes: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. The area where each of these tribes lived was known by the name of the tribe.