Return to Bethel

1God 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

2So 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 3We 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

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

8Deborah, the one who had nursed and raised Rebekah,j, k died and was buried under the oak south of Bethel. So Jacob named it Oak of Weeping.l

9God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10God said to him:

Your name is Jacob;

you will no longer be named Jacob,

but your name will be Israel.m

So He named him Israel. 11God also said to him:

I am •God Almighty.n

Be fruitful and multiply.o

A nation, indeed an assembly of nations,

will come from you,p

and kings will descend from you.q, r

12I will give to you the land

that I gave to Abraham and Isaac.s

And I will give the land

to your future descendants.

13Then God withdrewt, u from him at the place where He had spoken to him.

14Jacob set up a marker at the place where He had spoken to him — a stone marker. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.v 15Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Rachel’s Death

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

Israel’s Sons

21Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.aa 22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.ab

Jacob had 12 sons:ac

23Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn),

Simeon, Levi, Judah,

Issachar, and Zebulun.

24Rachel’s sons were

Joseph and Benjamin.

25The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah

were Dan and Naphtali.

26The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah

were Gad and Asher.

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

Isaac’s Death

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