Genesis 35
35
Return to Bethel
1God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there.#Gn 28:19 Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”#Gn 27:43
2So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you.#Gn 31:19; Jos 24:23; 1Sm 7:3 Purify yourselves and change your clothes.#Ex 19:10 3We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress.#1Sm 7:9; 2Sm 24:25; Jb 12:4; Ps 20:1; 34:4 He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”#Gn 28:10–22
4Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. 5When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.#Ex 23:27 6So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel#Gn 28:19; 48:3) in the land of Canaan. 7Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel#35:7 = God of Bethel because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah,#35:8 Lit Deborah, Rebekah’s wet nurse; Gn 24:59#Gn 24:59 died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.#35:8 = Oak of Weeping
9God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.”#Gn 17:5; 32:28 So he named him Israel. 11God also said to him, “I am God Almighty.#Gn 17:1; 28:3; Ex 6:3 Be fruitful and multiply.#Gn 9:1,7 A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you,#Gn 48:4 and kings will descend from you.#35:11 Lit will come from your loins#Gn 17:6,16; 36:31 12I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac.#Gn 12:7; 13:15; 26:3–4; 28:13; Ex 32:13 And I will give the land to your future descendants.” 13Then God withdrew#35:13 Lit went up#Gn 17:22; 18:33 from him at the place where he had spoken to him.
14Jacob set up a marker at the place where he had spoken to him — a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.#Gn 28:18–19; 31:45 15Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Rachel’s Death
16They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. 17During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”#Gn 30:24 18With her last breath — for she was dying — she named him Ben-oni,#35:18 = Son of My Sorrow but his father called him Benjamin.#35:18 = Son of the Right Hand 19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem#Mc 5:2; Mt 2:18). 20Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave still today.
Israel’s Sons
21Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.#35:21 Or beyond Migdal-eder 22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.#Gn 49:3–4
Jacob had twelve sons:#1Ch 2:1–2
23Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn),
Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, and Zebulun.
24Rachel’s sons were
Joseph and Benjamin.
25The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah
were Dan and Naphtali.
26The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah
were Gad and Asher.
These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
Isaac’s Death
27Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre#Gn 13:18; 18:1; 23:19 in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron#Jos 14:15), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28Isaac lived 180 years. 29He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people,#Gn 25:8,17; 49:33; Nm 20:24,26; Dt 32:50 old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Genesis 35
35
1And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto the ·God#GodHebrew: El that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; 3and we will arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the ·God#GodHebrew: El that answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. 4And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem. 5And they journeyed; and the terror of God#GodHebrew: Elohim was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
6And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God#GodHebrew: Elohim had appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. 8And Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died; and she was buried beneath Bethel, under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. 9And God#GodHebrew: Elohim appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Padan-Aram, and blessed him. 10And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. 11And God#GodHebrew: Elohim said to him, I am the Almighty ·God#GodHebrew: El be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee; and kings shall come out of thy loins. 12And the land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13And God#GodHebrew: Elohim went up from him in the place where he had talked with him. 14And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink-offering, and poured oil on it. 15And Jacob called the name of the place where God#GodHebrew: Elohim had talked with him, Beth-el.
16And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath, when Rachel travailed in childbirth; and it went hard with her in her childbearing. 17And it came to pass when it went hard with her in her childbearing, that the midwife said to her, Fear not; for this also is a son for thee. 18And it came to pass as her soul was departing — for she died — that she called his name Benoni; but his father called him Benjamin. 19And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20And Jacob erected a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.
21And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent on the other side of Migdal-Eder. 22And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23The sons of Leah: Reuben — Jacob's firstborn — and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant: Dan and Naphtali. 26And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maidservant: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob that were born to him in Padan-Aram. 27And Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre — to Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron; where Abraham had sojourned, and Isaac. 28And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. 29And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.