Genesis 35

Modern English Version

Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, dwell there, and there make an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”

² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and there I will make an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their possession and all their earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. ⁵ As they traveled, the terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶ So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ There he built an altar and called the place El Bethel, because God had appeared to him there when he fled from his brother.

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried beneath Bethel under the oak. So it was called Allon Bakuth.

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan Aram and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob any more, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.

¹¹ God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will come from you, and kings shall come forth from you. ¹² The land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your descendants after you I will give the land.” ¹³ Then God went up from him in 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 he poured oil on it too. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac^(A)

¹⁶ They journeyed from Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had a difficult labor. ¹⁷ When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear. You will have this son also.” ¹⁸ As her soul was departing (for she died), she called his name Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹ Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. ²⁰ Jacob set a pillar on her grave. It is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹ Israel journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. ²² When Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

These are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷ Jacob came back to Isaac his father in Mamre of Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ And Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.