Genesis 35  Christian Standard Bible

Return to Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there.^(A) Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”^(B)

² So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you.^(C) Purify yourselves and change your clothes.^{(D) 3} We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress.^(E) He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”^(F)

⁴ Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. ⁵ When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.^{(G) 6} So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel^(H)) in the land of Canaan. ⁷ Jacob built an altar there and called the place El-bethel^[a] because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸ Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah,^[b](I) died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.^[c]

⁹ God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but your name will be Israel.”^(J) So he named him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him, “I am God Almighty.^(K) Be fruitful and multiply.^(L) A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you,^(M) and kings will descend from you.^{[d](N) 12} I will give to you the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac.^(O) And I will give the land to your future descendants.” ¹³ Then God withdrew^[e](P) from him at the place where he had spoken to him.

¹⁴ Jacob 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.^{(Q) 15} Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Rachel’s Death

¹⁶ They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. ¹⁷ During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”^{(R) 18} With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni,^[f] but his father called him Benjamin.^{[g] 19} So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem^(S)). ²⁰ Jacob set up a marker on her grave; it is the marker at Rachel’s grave still today.

Israel’s Sons

²¹ Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.^{[h] 22} While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.^(T)

Jacob had twelve sons:^(U)

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Isaac’s Death

²⁷ Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre^(V) in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron^(W)), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸ Isaac lived 180 years. ²⁹ He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people,^(X) old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.