Genesis 35

Chapter 35

Jacob Moves to Bethel

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^aBethel and ¹live there, and make an altar there to ^bGod, who appeared to you ^cwhen you fled ²from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his ^ahousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away ^bthe foreign gods which are among you, and ^cpurify yourselves and change your garments;

³and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^aan altar there to God, ^bwho answered me in the day of my distress and ^chas been with me ¹wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which ¹they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ²oak which was near Shechem.

⁵As they journeyed, there was ^1aa great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶So Jacob came to ^aLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

^7aHe built an altar there, and called the place ¹El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ²from his brother.

⁸Now ^aDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named ¹Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^ablessed him.

^10aGod said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;

¹You shall no longer be called Jacob,

But Israel shall be your name.”

Thus He called ²him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him,

“I am ^1aGod Almighty;

^bBe fruitful and multiply;

A nation and a ^ccompany of nations shall ²come from you,

And ^dkings shall come forth from ³you.

¹²“^aThe land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,

I will give it to you,

And I will give the land to your ¹descendants after you.”

¹³Then ^aGod went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴Jacob set up ^aa pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

¹⁵So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^1aBethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to ^aEphrath, Rachel began to give birth and she ¹suffered severe labor.

¹⁷When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now ^ayou have another son.”

¹⁸It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ¹Ben-oni; but his father called him ²Benjamin.

¹⁹So ^aRachel died and was buried on the way to ^bEphrath (that is, Bethlehem).

²⁰Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the ^apillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^1atower of ²Eder.

²²It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that ^aReuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

The Sons of Israel

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

^23athe sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

^24athe sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵and ^athe sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

²⁶and ^athe sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^aMamre of ^bKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were ^aone hundred and eighty years.

²⁹Isaac breathed his last and died and was ^agathered to his people, an ^bold man ¹of ripe age; and ^chis sons Esau and Jacob buried him.