Genesis 35
35
1 About this time, God said to Jacob, "Arise and go up to Bethel, and live there, and make an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."
2 In truth, Jacob, having called together all his house, said: "Cast away the foreign gods that are in your midst and be cleansed, and also change your garments.
3 Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, so that we may make an altar there to God, who heeded me in the day of my tribulation, and who accompanied me on my journey."
4 Therefore, they gave him all the foreign gods which they had, and the earrings which were in their ears. And then he buried them under the terebinth tree, which is beyond the city of Shechem.
5 And when they had set out, the terror of God invaded all the surrounding cities, and they dared not pursue them as they withdrew.
6 And so, Jacob arrived at Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, also named Bethel: he and all the people with him.
7 And he built an altar there, and he called the name of that place, 'House of God.' For there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.
8 About the same time, Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, died, and she was buried at the base of Bethel, under an oak tree. And the name of that place was called, 'Oak of Weeping.'
9 Then God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,
10 saying: "You will no longer be called Jacob, for your name shall be Israel." And he called him Israel,
11 and he said to him: "I am Almighty God: increase and multiply. Tribes and peoples of nations will be from you, and kings will go forth from your loins.
12 And the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your offspring after you."
13 And he withdrew from him.
14 In truth, he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him, pouring out libations over it, and pouring oil,
15 and he called the name of that place, 'Bethel.'
16 Then, departing from there, he arrived in springtime at the land that leads to Ephrath. And there, when Rachel was giving birth,
17 because it was a difficult birth, she began to be in danger. And the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid, for you will have this son also."
18 Then, when her life was departing because of the pain, and death was now imminent, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my pain. Yet truly, his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand.
19 And so Rachel died, and she was buried in the way that leads to Ephrath: this place is Bethlehem.
20 And Jacob erected a monument over her sepulcher. This is the monument to Rachel's tomb, even to the present day.
21 Departing from there, he pitched his tent beyond the Tower of the Flock.
22 And when he was living in that region, Reuben went out, and he slept with Bilhah the concubine of his father, which was not such a small matter as to be hidden from him. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23 The sons of Leah: Reuben the first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25 The sons of Bilhah, handmaid of Rachel: Dan and Naphtali.
26 The sons of Zilpah, handmaid of Leah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.
27 And then he went to his father Isaac in Mamre, the city of Arba: this place is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
28 And the days of Isaac were completed: one hundred and eighty years.
29 And being consumed by old age, he died. And he was placed with his people, being old and full of days. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.
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Genesis 35: CPDV
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Genesis 35
35
1God spoke to Jacob: “Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau.”
2-3Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, “Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we’re going to Bethel. I’m going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I’ve gone since.”
4-5They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they’d been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob.
6-7Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that’s where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother.
8And that’s when Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak).
9-10God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: “Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that’s your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler).”
11-12God continued,
I am The Strong God.
Have children! Flourish!
A nation—a whole company of nations!—
will come from you.
Kings will come from your loins;
the land I gave Abraham and Isaac
I now give to you,
and pass it on to your descendants.
13And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him.
14-15Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God’s-House).
* * *
16-17They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid—you have another boy.”
18With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).
19-20Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, “Rachel’s Grave Stone.”
* * *
21-22a Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did.
* * *
22b-26 There were twelve sons of Jacob.
The sons by Leah:
Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun.
The sons by Rachel:
Joseph
Benjamin.
The sons by Bilhah, Rachel’s maid:
Dan
Naphtali.
The sons by Zilpah, Leah’s maid:
Gad
Asher.
These were Jacob’s sons, born to him in Paddan Aram.
* * *
27-29Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.
* * *
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.