Jacob establishes worship at Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Get up, go to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you ran away from your brother Esau.”

² Jacob said to his household and to everyone who was with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you. Clean yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then let’s rise and go up to Bethel so that I can build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and who has been with me wherever I’ve gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all of the foreign gods they had, as well as the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth at Shechem. ⁵ When they set out, God made all of the surrounding cities fearful so that they didn’t pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶ Jacob and all of the people with him arrived in Luz, otherwise known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan. ⁷ He built an altar there and named the place El-bethel,^[a] because God had revealed himself to him there when he ran away from his brother. ⁸ Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried at Bethel under the oak, and Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.^[b]