Jacob Goes Up to Bethel

1Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and [†]live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled [†]from your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you and cleanse yourselves and change your garments; 3and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me [†]wherever I have gone.” 4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which [†]they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the [†]oak which was near Shechem.

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

Jacob Is Renamed Israel

9Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. 10And God said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;

Your name shall no longer be called Jacob,

But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called his name Israel. 11God also said to him,

“I am [†]God Almighty;

Be fruitful and multiply;

A nation and an assembly of nations shall [†]come from you,

And kings shall [†]come forth from your loins.

12And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,

I will give it to you,

And I will give the land to your seed after you.”

13Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. 14And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, [†]Bethel.

16Then they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and Rachel gave birth, and she [†]suffered severely in her labor. 17Now it happened that when she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.” 18Now it happened as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him [†]Ben-oni; but his father called him [†]Benjamin. 19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. 21Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the [†]tower of [†]Eder.

The Sons of Jacob

22Now it happened while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

And there were twelve sons of Jacob—

23the sons of Leah:

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,

then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

24the sons of Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin;

25and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-woman:

Dan and Naphtali;

26and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant-woman:

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

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

28Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29And Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.