Genesis 35

Revised Geneva Translation

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise. Go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar to God (Who appeared to you when you fled from Esau, your brother).”

² Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the strange gods that are among you; and cleanse yourselves and change your garments.

³ “For we will rise and go up to Bethel. And I will make there an altar to God (Who heard me on the day of my tribulation and was with me on the way which I went).”

⁴ And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under an oak which was by Shechem.

⁵ Then they went on their journey. And the fear of God was upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not follow after the sons of Jacob.

⁶ So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him.

⁷ And he built an altar there and had called the place “The God of Bethel”, because God appeared to him there when he fled from his brother.

⁸ But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried beneath Bethel, under an oak. And he called the name of it “Allon Bachuth”.

⁹ Again, God appeared to Jacob after he came to Padan Aram and blessed him.

¹⁰ Moreover, God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. No more shall your name be called ‘Jacob’, but ‘Israel’ shall be your name.” And He called his name “Israel”.

¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God All-Sufficient. Grow and multiply. A nation and a multitude of nations shall spring from you; and kings shall come out of your loins.

¹² “I will also give you the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac; and I will give that land to your seed after you.”

¹³ So God ascended from him in the place where he had talked with him.

¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him (a pillar of stone) and poured drink offerings on it. He also poured oil on it.

¹⁵ And Jacob called the name of that place where God spoke with him, “Bethel”.

¹⁶ Then they departed from Bethel, and when they were about half a day’s journey from Ephrath, Rachel labored; and she was in peril in her labor.

¹⁷ And when she was in the pains of her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear. For you shall have this son also.”

¹⁸ Then, as she was about to give up the ghost (for she died), she called his name, “Ben-Oni”. But his father called him “Benjamin”.

¹⁹ Thus Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

²⁰ And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave. This is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹ Then Israel went forward and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder.

²² Now, when Israel dwelt in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. And Israel heard about it. And Jacob had twelve sons.

²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel; Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan Aram.

²⁷ Then Jacob came to Isaac, his father, to Mamre, a city of Kirjath Arbah (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac were strangers.

²⁸ And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

²⁹ And Isaac gave up the ghost and died and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days; and his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.