Genesis 35:1–14

Jacob Returns to Bethel

³⁵God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”^{* 2}So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;^{* 3}then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”^{* 4}So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.^*

⁵As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them.^{* 6}Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,^{* 7}and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^v because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.^{* 8}And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So it was called Allon-bacuth.^w*

⁹God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.^{* 10}God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel.^{* 11}God said to him, “I am God Almighty:^x be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.^{* 12}The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”^{* 13}Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.^{* 14}Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.^*