Genesis 35:1-17 ▼

1 AND God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and build there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the presence of your brother Esau.

2 Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments;

3 And let us arise and go up to Beth-el; and I will build there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the journey that I took.

4 So they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their possession, and the earrings that were in their ears; and Jacob buried them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed; and the fear of God fell upon the towns that were round about them, and they did not pursue after Jacob and his sons.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, that is Beth-el, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Beth-el (the house of God), because there God appeared to him when he fled from the presence of his brother Esau.

8 Then Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried below Bethel under an oak; so the name of the oak was called Betemtha dabkhatha (the oak of weeping).

9 And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said to him. Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; so he called his name Israel.

11 And God said to him. I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply: a people and a multitude of peoples shall come from you, and kings shall come out of your loins;

12 And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your descendants after you will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it.

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Beth-el.

16 And they journeyed from Bethel, and continued until they came within the distance of a mile from the entrance to Ephrath; and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor while she was being delivered.

17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, Fear not; for this one also is a son for you.