Genesis 35
International Standard Version
Jacob Moves to Bethel
35 Later, God told Jacob, “Get up, move to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 Jacob announced to his household and to everyone with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that you’ve kept among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. 3 Then let’s get up and go to Bethel, where I’ll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went.”
4 So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending,[a] along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem. 5 As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the[b] cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
6 Eventually, Jacob and everyone with him arrived at Luz (also called Beth-el) in the territory of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there to God and named the place El Beth-el, because God had revealed himself there when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried there, under the oak tree that was below Beth-el. That’s why the place was named Allon-bacuth.[c]
God Appears Again to Jacob
9 God appeared again to Jacob after he had arrived from Paddan-aram[d] and blessed him. 10 Then God told him,
“Your name is Jacob.
No longer are you to be called Jacob.
Instead, your name will be Israel.”
So God called his name Israel 11 and also told him,
“I am God Almighty.
You are to be fruitful
and multiply.
You will become a nation—
in fact, an assembly of nations!
Kings will come from you—
they’ll emerge from your own loins!
12 Now as for the land
that I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I’m giving it to you
and to your descendants who come after you.
I’m giving the land to you!”
13 After this, God ascended from the place where he had been speaking to him. 14 Jacob erected a pillar of stone at that very place where God had spoken to him. He poured a drink offering over it, anointed it with oil, 15 and named the place where God had spoken to him Beth-el.
Rachel Dies in Childbirth
16 Later, they set out from Beth-el. While still a long way[e] from Ephrathah, Rachel started to have trouble giving birth. 17 While she was suffering due to her difficult labor, the midwife told her, “Don’t fear! You’re going to have another son.”
18 Just before she died,[f] Rachel called her son’s[g] name Ben-oni,[h] but his father Jacob[i] named him Benjamin.[j] 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathah, also known as Bethlehem. 20 Jacob erected a pillar over her grave, and that pillar stands over Rachel’s grave to this day.
Jacob Settles Near Migdal Eder
21 Jacob continued his travels, and eventually pitched his tent facing Migdal Eder. 22 But while Israel lived in that land, Reuben went inside his father’s tent[k] and had sexual relations with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. 23 Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s first-born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 Rachel’s servant Bilhah’s sons were Dan and Naphtali. 26 Leah’s servant Zilpah’s sons were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob’s sons who were born to him while he lived in Paddan-aram.[l]
The Death of Isaac
27 So Jacob reached his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived. 28 Isaac had lived a total of 180 years 29 when he died and joined his ancestors at a ripe old age. Then his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 35:4 Lit. gods that were in their hands
- Genesis 35:5 The Heb. lacks people who lived in the
- Genesis 35:8 The Heb. name Allon-bacuth means Weeping Oak
- Genesis 35:9 Paddan-aram was located in northwest Mesopotamia
- Genesis 35:16 Lit. a distance of land
- Genesis 35:18 Lit. As her soul was departing while she was dying
- Genesis 35:18 Lit. called his
- Genesis 35:18 The Heb. name Ben-oni means child of my pain
- Genesis 35:18 The Heb. lacks Jacob
- Genesis 35:18 The Heb. name Benjamin means child of my right hand
- Genesis 35:22 The Heb. lacks his father’s tent
- Genesis 35:26 Paddan-aram was located in northwest Mesopotamia
Genesis 35
King James Version
35 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
8 But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.
9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, 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 handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram.
27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
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