Genesis 35:1–15

Return to Bethel

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

2 So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. f Purify yourselves and change your clothes. g 3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. h He has been with me everywhere I have gone.” i

4 Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. 5 When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. j 6 So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel k) in the land of Canaan. 7 Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel l because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

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

9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10 God 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. 11 God 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. t u

12 I will give to you the land

that I gave to Abraham and Isaac. v

And I will give the land

to your future descendants.

13 Then God withdrew w x from him at the place where He had spoken to him.

14 Jacob 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 15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.