GenesisChapter 35

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¹Then God said to Jacob, "Get up and go to Bethel. Live there. Build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you ran away from your brother Esau." ²So Jacob spoke to his family and all who were with him. "Get rid of the foreign gods you have," he said. "Make yourselves clean, and put on fresh clothes. ³Then let's get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God. He answered me when I was in trouble. He has been with me everywhere I have gone." ⁴So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem. ⁵Then they set out. A terror from God fell on the cities all around them. So no one chased after Jacob's sons. ⁶Jacob and everyone with him came to Luz, also called Bethel, in the land of Canaan. ⁷Jacob built an altar there. He called the place El-bethel, because that was where God had shown himself to Jacob when he was running from his brother.a ⁸Then Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. She was buried under the oak tree below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.b ⁹Jacob had come back from Paddan-aram. Then God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. But you will not be called Jacob anymore. Your name will be Israel." So God named him Israel. ¹¹And God told him, "I am God Almighty. Have many children and grow in number. A nation will come from you. Yes, a whole group of nations will come from you. Kings will come from your family line. ¹²I gave land to Abraham and Isaac. I will give that land to you. And I will give this land to your children and their children after you." ¹³Then God went up from the place where he had talked with him. ¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar at the place where God had talked with him. It was a stone marker. He poured out a drink offering on it. He also poured oil on it. ¹⁵Jacob named the place where God had talked with him Bethel.c ¹⁶Later they left Bethel. They were still a long way from Ephrath when Rachel began to give birth. Her labor was very hard. ¹⁷While she was in great pain, the woman helping her said, "Don't be afraid. You are having another son." ¹⁸Rachel was dying. With her last breath, she named the baby Ben-oni. But his father named him Benjamin.d ¹⁹So Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. ²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. It still marks Rachel's tomb today. ²¹Israel set out again. He set up his tent past the Tower of Eder. ²²While Israel was living in that area, Reuben went and slept with Bilhah. She was his father's concubine. And Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons. ²³The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Rachel's servant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Leah's servant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. ²⁷Jacob came home to his father Isaac at Mamre. It was near Kiriath-arba, which is Hebron. Abraham and Isaac had lived there. ²⁸Isaac lived 180 years. ²⁹Then he breathed his last breath and died. He joined his people who had died before him. He was old and had lived a full life. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.