Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethelo and settle there, and build an altarp there to God,q who appeared to your when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”s

2 So Jacob said to his householdt and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign godsu you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.v 3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God,w who answered me in the day of my distressx and who has been with me wherever I have gone.y” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears,z and Jacob buried them under the oaka at Shechem.b 5 Then they set out, and the terror of Godc fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.d

6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luze (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.f 7 There he built an altar,g and he called the place El Bethel,a h because it was there that God revealed himself to himi when he was fleeing from his brother.j

8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse,k died and was buried under the oakl outside Bethel.m So it was named Allon Bakuth.b

9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,c n God appeared to him again and blessed him.o 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,d but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.e”p So he named him Israel.

11 And God said to him, “I am God Almightyf;q be fruitful and increase in number.r A nations and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.t 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.u”v 13 Then God went up from himw at the place where he had talked with him.

14 Jacob set up a stone pillarx at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offeringy on it; he also poured oil on it.z 15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.g a

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

35:23–26pp—1Ch 2:1–2

16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath,b Rachelc began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwifed said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”e 18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.h f But his father named him Benjamin.i g

19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathh (that is, Bethlehemi). 20 Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this dayj that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.k

21 Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.l 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubinem Bilhah,n and Israel heard of it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

23 The sons of Leah:o

Reuben the firstbornp of Jacob,

Simeon, Levi, Judah,q Issachar and Zebulun.r

24 The sons of Rachel:

Josephs and Benjamin.t

25 The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah:u

Dan and Naphtali.v

26 The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah:w

Gadx and Asher.y

These were the sons of Jacob,z who were born to him in Paddan Aram.a

27 Jacob came home to his father Isaacb in Mamre,c near Kiriath Arbad (that is, Hebron),e where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.f 28 Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years.g 29 Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people,h old and full of years.i And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.j