Genesis 35 New American Standard Bible

Jacob Moves to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to ^(B)God, who appeared to you ^(C)when you fled ^[a]from your brother Esau.” ²So Jacob said to his ^(D)household and to all who were with him, “Remove ^(E)the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(F)purify yourselves and change your garments; ³and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^(G)an altar there to God, ^(H)who answered me on the day of my distress and ^(I)has been with me ^[b]wherever I have gone.” ⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which ^[c]they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ^[d]oak which was near Shechem.

⁵As they journeyed, there was ^[e]^(J)a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶So Jacob came to ^(K)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷Then ^(L)he built an altar there, and called the place ^[f]El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ^[g]from his brother. ⁸Now ^(M)Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named ^[h]Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^(N)blessed him. ¹⁰^(O)God said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;
^[i]You shall no longer be called Jacob,
But Israel shall be your name.”

So He called ^[j]him Israel. ¹¹God also said to him,

“I am ^[k]^(P)God Almighty;
^(Q)Be fruitful and multiply;
A nation and a ^(R)multitude of nations shall ^[l]come from you,
And ^(S)kings shall ^[m]come from ^[n]you.
¹²And ^(T)the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give to you,
And I will give the land to your ^[o]descendants after you.”

¹³Then ^(U)God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴So Jacob set up ^(V)a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^[p]^(W)Bethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to ^(X)Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor. ¹⁷And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(Y)you have another son!” ¹⁸And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ^[q]Ben-oni; but his father called him ^[r]Benjamin. ¹⁹So ^(Z)Rachel died and was buried on the way to ^(AA)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the ^(AB)memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^[s]^(AC)tower of ^[t]Eder.

The Sons of Israel

²²And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that ^(AD)Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— ²³^(AE)the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ²⁴^(AF)the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵and ^(AG)the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶and ^(AH)the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(AI)Mamre of ^(AJ)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided.

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were ^(AK)180 years. ²⁹Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was ^(AL)gathered to his people, an ^(AM)old man ^[u]of ripe age; and ^(AN)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.