35
Jacob Moves to Bethel
1Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled #35.1: Lit from the face offrom your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Remove the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; 3and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me on the day of my distress and has been with me #35.3: Lit in the way whichwherever I have gone.” 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which #35.4: Lit were in their handthey had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the #35.4: Or terebinthoak which was near Shechem.
5As they journeyed, there was #35.5: Or a terror of Goda great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7Then he built an altar there, and called the place #35.7: I.e., the God of BethelEl-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled #35.7: Lit from the face offrom his brother. 8Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named #35.8: I.e., oak of weepingAllon-bacuth.
Jacob Is Named Israel
9Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10God said to him,
“Your name is Jacob;
# 35.10: Lit Your name You shall no longer be called Jacob,
But Israel shall be your name.”
So He called #35.10: Lit his namehim Israel. 11God also said to him,
“I am #35.11: Heb El ShaddaiGod Almighty;
Be fruitful and multiply;
A nation and a multitude of nations shall #35.11: Or come into beingcome from you,
And kings shall #35.11: Or come into beingcome from #35.11: Lit your loinsyou.
12“And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give to you,
And I will give the land to your #35.12: Lit seeddescendants after you.”
13Then God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him. 14So Jacob set up a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, #35.15: I.e., house of GodBethel.
16Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor. 17And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son!” 18And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him #35.18: I.e., the son of my sorrowBen-oni; but his father called him #35.18: I.e., the son of the right handBenjamin. 19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day. 21Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the #35.21: Heb Migdal-edertower of #35.21: Or flockEder.
The Sons of Israel
22And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.
Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— 23the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; 24the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; 25and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali; 26and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided.
28Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man #35.29: Lit and satisfied with daysof ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.