¹² And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!

¹³ And behold, the Lord stood over and beside him and said, I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father [forefather] and the God of Isaac; I will give to you and to your descendants the land on which you are lying.

¹⁴ And your offspring shall be as [countless as] the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and by you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed and bless themselves.^(A)

¹⁵ And behold, I am with you and will keep (watch over you with care, take notice of) you wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done all of which I have told you.

¹⁶ And Jacob awoke from his sleep and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.

¹⁷ He was afraid and said, How to be feared and reverenced is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and ^[a]this is the gateway to heaven!

¹⁸ And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had put under his head, and he set it up for a pillar (a monument to the vision in his dream), and he poured oil on its top [in dedication].

¹⁹ And he named that place Bethel [the house of God]; but the name of that city was Luz at first.

²⁸ And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob [supplanter], but Israel [contender with God]; for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed.^(A)

35 And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. And make there an altar to God Who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled from the presence of Esau your brother.^(A)

² Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the [images of] strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves and change [into fresh] garments;

³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went.

⁴ So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had and their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵ And they journeyed and a terror from God fell on the towns round about them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

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

⁷ There he built an altar, and called the place El-bethel [God of Bethel], for there God revealed Himself to him when he fled from the presence of his brother.

⁸ But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under an oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth [oak of weeping].

⁹ And God [in a distinctly visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Padan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.^(B)

¹⁰ Again God said to him, Your name is Jacob [supplanter]; you shall not be called Jacob any longer, but Israel shall be your name. So He called him Israel [contender with God].

¹¹ And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you and kings shall be born of your stock;

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

¹³ Then God ascended from him in the place where He talked with him.

¹⁴ And Jacob set up a pillar (monument) in the place where he talked with [God], a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it.

¹⁵ And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him Bethel [house of God].