Genesis 35:1–14

Return to Bethel

35God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. ^dBuild an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ^e

²So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. ^fPurify yourselves and change your clothes. ^g3We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. ^hHe has been with me everywhere I have gone.” ⁱ

⁴Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. ⁵When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ^j6So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel ^k) in the land of Canaan. ⁷Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel ^lbecause it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah, ^mndied and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Oak of Weeping. ^o

⁹God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. ¹⁰God said to him:

Your name is Jacob;

you will no longer be named Jacob,

but your name will be Israel. ^p

So He named him Israel. ¹¹God also said to him:

I am God Almighty. ^q

Be fruitful and multiply. ^r

A nation, indeed an assembly of nations,

will come from you, ^s

and kings will descend from you. ^tu

¹²I will give to you the land

that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. ^v

And I will give the land

to your future descendants.

¹³Then God withdrew ^wxfrom him at the place where He had spoken to him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a marker at the place where He had spoken to him—a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. ^y