Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 ^(A) God told Jacob, “Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me.”

² Jacob said to his family and to everyone else who was traveling with him:

Get rid of your foreign gods! Then make yourselves acceptable to worship God and put on clean clothes. ³ Afterwards, we'll go to Bethel. I will build an altar there for God, who answered my prayers when I was in trouble and who has always been at my side.

⁴ So everyone gave Jacob their idols and their earrings,^[a] and he buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

⁵ While Jacob and his family were traveling through Canaan, God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them. ⁶ Finally, they reached Bethel, also known as Luz. ⁷ Jacob built an altar there and called it “God of Bethel,” because that was the place where God had appeared to him when he was running from Esau. ⁸ While they were there, Rebekah's personal servant Deborah^[b] died. They buried her under an oak tree and called it “Weeping Oak.”

God Blesses Jacob at Bethel

^9-11 (B)(C) After Jacob came back to the land of Canaan, God appeared to him again. This time he gave Jacob a new name and blessed him by saying:

I am God All-Powerful, and from now on your name will be Israel^[c] instead of Jacob. You will have many children. Your descendants will become nations, and some of the men in your family will even be kings. ¹² I will give you the land that I promised Abraham and Isaac, and it will belong to your family forever.

¹³ After God had gone, ^14 (D) Jacob set up a large rock, so that he would remember what had happened there. Then he poured wine and olive oil on the rock to show that it was dedicated to God, ¹⁵ and he named the place Bethel.^[d]

Benjamin Is Born

¹⁶ Jacob and his family had left Bethel and were still a long way from Ephrath, when the time came for Rachel's baby to be born. ¹⁷ She was having a rough time, but the woman who was helping her said, “Don't worry! It's a boy.” ¹⁸ Rachel was at the point of death, and right before dying, she said, “I'll name him Benoni.”^[e] But Jacob called him Benjamin.^[f]

¹⁹ Rachel was buried beside the road to Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem. ²⁰ Jacob set up a tombstone over her grave, and it is still there. ²¹ Jacob, also known as Israel, traveled to the south of Eder Tower, where he set up camp.

^22 (E) During their time there, Jacob's oldest son Reuben slept with Bilhah, who was one of Jacob's other wives.^[g] And Jacob found out about it.

Jacob's Twelve Sons

^23-26 Jacob had twelve sons while living in northern Syria.^[h] His first-born Reuben was the son of Leah, who later gave birth to Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah's servant Zilpah had two sons: Gad and Asher.

Jacob and his wife Rachel had Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel's servant woman Bilhah had two more sons: Dan and Naphtali.

Isaac Dies

^27 (F) Jacob went to his father Isaac at Hebron, also called Mamre or Kiriath-Arba, where Isaac's father Abraham had lived as a foreigner. ^28-29 Isaac died at the ripe old age of 180, then his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Esau's Family

36 Esau, also known as Edom, had many descendants. ^2 (A) He married three Canaanite women: The first was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; the second was Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ^3 (B) the third was Basemath, who was Ishmael's daughter and Nebaioth's sister.

^4-5 Esau and his three wives had five sons while in Canaan. Adah's son was Eliphaz; Basemath's son was Reuel; Oholibamah's three sons were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

⁶ Esau took his children and wives, his relatives and servants, his animals and possessions he had acquired while in Canaan, and moved far from Jacob. ⁷ He did this because the land was too crowded and could not support him and his brother with their flocks and herds. ⁸ That's why Esau made his home in the hill country of Seir.

^9-14 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir and was the ancestor of the Edomites. Esau had three wives: Adah, Basemath, and Oholibamah. Here is a list of his descendants: Esau and Adah had a son named Eliphaz, whose sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Timna was the other wife^[a] of Esau's son Eliphaz, and she had a son named Amalek.

Esau and Basemath had a son named Reuel, whose sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

Esau and Oholibamah had three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Chiefs and Leaders in Edom

¹⁵ Esau and Adah's oldest son was Eliphaz, and the clans that descended from him were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These and Esau's other descendants lived in the land of Edom.

¹⁷ The clans that descended from Esau and Basemath's son Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

¹⁸ The clans that descended from Esau and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁹ All of these clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom.

²⁰ Seir was from the Horite tribe that had lived in Edom before the time of Esau. The clans that had descended from him were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

²² Lotan's sons were Hori and Heman; his sister was Timna.

²³ Shobal's sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴ Zibeon's sons were Aiah and Anah—the same Anah who found an oasis^[b] in the desert while taking the donkeys of his father out to pasture.

²⁵ Anah's children were Dishon and Oholibamah.

²⁶ Dishon's sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷ Ezer's sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸ Dishan's sons were Uz and Aran.

²⁹ The clans of the Horites were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan, and they lived in the land of Seir.

^31-39 Before there were kings in Israel, the following kings ruled Edom one after another:

⁴⁰ The clans that descended from Esau took their names from their families and the places where they lived. They are Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel, and Iram. These clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom, the father of the Edomites. They took their names from the places where they settled.

The Preaching of John the Baptist

(Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.1-18; John 1.19-28)

3 Years later, John the Baptist started preaching in the desert of Judea. ^2 (A) He said, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven^[a] will soon be here.”^[b]

^3 (B) John was the one the prophet Isaiah was talking about, when he said,

^4 (C) John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.

⁵ From Jerusalem and all Judea and from the Jordan River Valley crowds of people went to John. ⁶ They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the river.

^7 (D) Many Pharisees and Sadducees also came to be baptized. But John said to them:

You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? ⁸ Do something to show you have really given up your sins. ^9 (E) And don't start telling yourselves that you belong to Abraham's family. I tell you that God can turn these stones into children for Abraham. ^10 (F) An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into a fire.

¹¹ I baptize you with water so you will give up your sins.^[c] But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals.^[d] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ^12 (G) His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks.^[e] He will store the wheat in a barn and burn the husks in a fire that never goes out.

The Baptism of Jesus

(Mark 1.9-11; Luke 3.21,22)

¹³ Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John kept objecting and said, “I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me?”

¹⁵ Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.

¹⁶ So Jesus was baptized. And as soon as he came out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him like a dove. ^17 (H) Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.”