Genesis 35

English Standard Version

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(B)when you fled from your brother Esau.” ²So Jacob said to his ^(C)household and to all who were with him, “Put away ^(D)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(E)purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God ^(F)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(G)has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ^(H)the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶And Jacob came to ^(I)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because ^(J)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸And ^(K)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.^[b]

⁹God appeared^[c] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; ^(L)no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but ^(M)Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, ^(N)“I am God Almighty:^[d] be ^(O)fruitful and multiply. ^(P)A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^[e] ¹²^(Q)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.” ¹³Then God ^(R)went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴And Jacob ^(S)set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him ^(T)Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance^[f] from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(U)you have another son.” ¹⁸And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;^[g] ^(V)but his father called him Benjamin.^[h] ¹⁹So ^(W)Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to ^(X)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is ^(Y)the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. ²¹Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²²While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and ^(Z)lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Leah: ^(AA)Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷And Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(AB)Mamre, or ^(AC)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. ²⁹And Isaac breathed his last, and he died ^(AD)and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And ^(AE)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.