1God said to Jacob, “Go to the city of Bethel and live there. Make an altar to the God who appeared to you there when you were running away from your brother Esau.”

2So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods you have, and make yourselves clean, and change your clothes. 3We will leave here and go to Bethel. There I will build an altar to God, who has helped me during my time of trouble. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.” 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, and the earrings they were wearing, and he hid them under the great tree near the town of Shechem. 5Then Jacob and his sons left there. But God caused the people in the nearby cities to be afraid, so they did not follow them. 6And Jacob and all the people who were with him went to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the land of Canaan. 7There Jacob built an altar and named the place Bethel, after God, because God had appeared to him there when he was running from his brother.

8Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak tree at Bethel, so they named that place Oak of Crying.

Jacob’s New Name

9When Jacob came back from Northwest Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. Your new name will be Israel.” So he called him Israel. 11God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Have many children and grow in number as a nation. You will be the ancestor of many nations and kings. 12The same land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your descendants.” 13Then God left him. 14Jacob set up a stone on edge in that place where God had talked to him, and he poured a drink offering and olive oil on it to make it special for God. 15And Jacob named the place Bethel.

Rachel Dies Giving Birth

16Jacob and his group left Bethel. Before they came to Ephrath, Rachel began giving birth to her baby, 17but she was having much trouble. When Rachel’s nurse saw this, she said, “Don’t be afraid, Rachel. You are giving birth to another son.” 18Rachel gave birth to the son, but she herself died. As she lay dying, she named the boy Son of My Suffering, but Jacob called him Benjamin.

19Rachel was buried on the road to Ephrath, a district of Bethlehem, 20and Jacob set up a rock on her grave to honor her. That rock is still there. 21Then Israel continued his journey and camped just south of Migdal Eder.

22While Israel was there, Reuben had sexual relations with Israel’s slave woman Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

The Family of Israel

Jacob had twelve sons. 23He had six sons by his wife Leah: Reuben, his first son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24He had two sons by his wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25He had two sons by Rachel’s slave girl Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali.

26And he had two sons by Leah’s slave girl Zilpah: Gad and Asher.

These are Jacob’s sons who were born in Northwest Mesopotamia.

27Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre near Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. 28Isaac lived one hundred eighty years. 29So Isaac breathed his last breath and died when he was very old, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

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Genesis 35

1And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto the ·God#GodHebrew: El that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; 3and we will arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the ·God#GodHebrew: El that answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. 4And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem. 5And they journeyed; and the terror of God#GodHebrew: Elohim was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God#GodHebrew: Elohim had appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. 8And Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died; and she was buried beneath Bethel, under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. 9And God#GodHebrew: Elohim appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Padan-Aram, and blessed him. 10And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. 11And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to him, I am the Almighty ·God#GodHebrew: El be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee; and kings shall come out of thy loins. 12And the land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13And God#GodHebrew: Elohim went up from him in the place where he had talked with him. 14And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink-offering, and poured oil on it. 15And Jacob called the name of the place where God#GodHebrew: Elohim had talked with him, Beth-el.

16And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath, when Rachel travailed in childbirth; and it went hard with her in her childbearing. 17And it came to pass when it went hard with her in her childbearing, that the midwife said to her, Fear not; for this also is a son for thee. 18And it came to pass as her soul was departing — for she died — that she called his name Benoni; but his father called him Benjamin. 19And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20And Jacob erected a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

21And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent on the other side of Migdal-Eder. 22And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23The sons of Leah: Reuben — Jacob's firstborn — and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant: Dan and Naphtali. 26And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob that were born to him in Padan-Aram. 27And Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre — to Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron; where Abraham had sojourned, and Isaac. 28And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. 29And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

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Genesis 35

Genesis 35