Genesis 35:1-7

English Standard Version

God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(B)when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(C)household and to all who were with him, “Put away ^(D)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(E)purify yourselves and change your garments. ³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God ^(F)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(G)has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ^(H)the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ And Jacob came to ^(I)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because ^(J)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.