Jacob in Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “·Go [^LRise up and go up] to the city of Bethel [12:8] and live there. Make an altar to the God who appeared to you there when you were ·running away [fleeing] from your brother Esau [28:1–22].”

² So Jacob said to his ·family [household] and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods you have, and ·make yourselves clean [purify yourselves], and change your clothes. ³ We will ·leave here and go [^Lrise up and go up] to Bethel. There I will build an altar to God, who ·has helped [^Lanswered] me ·during my time of trouble [^Lin the day of my distress]. He has been with me [^Can indication of a covenant relationship] everywhere I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods ·they had [in their possession; ^Lin their hands], and the earrings ·they were wearing [^Lon their ears], and he hid them under the ·great tree [^Loak; or terebinth; 12:6] near the town of Shechem. ⁵ Then Jacob and his sons left there. But ·God caused the people in the nearby cities to be afraid [^Lthe terror of God was on the surrounding cities], so they did not ·follow [pursue] them. ⁶ And Jacob and all the people who were with him went to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There Jacob built an altar and named the place ·Bethel, after God [El-Bethel; or “God of Bethel”], because God had appeared to him there when he was ·running [fleeing] from his brother.

⁸ Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak tree at Bethel, so they named that place ·Oak of Crying [^LAllon-bacuth].

Jacob’s New Name

⁹ When Jacob came back from ·northwestern Mesopotamia [^LPaddan-aram], God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. Your new name will be Israel.” So he called him Israel [32:28]. ¹¹ God said to him, “I am ·God Almighty [^LEl Shaddai]. ·Have many children [^LBe fruitful] and ·grow in number [^Lmultiply; 1:22] as a nation. ·You will be the ancestor of many nations [^LA company/assembly of nations will come from you] and kings [^Lwill spring from your loins]. ¹² The same land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your ·descendants [^Lseed; 12:2].” ¹³ Then God ·left him [^Lwent up from him in the place where he spoke with him]. ¹⁴ Jacob set up a ·stone on edge [^Lpillar, a stone pillar] in that place where God had talked to him, and he poured a drink offering and olive oil on it to make it special for God. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place Bethel [^C“house of God”].

Rachel Dies Giving Birth

¹⁶ ·Jacob and his group [^LThey] ·left [departed from] Bethel. ·Before they came to [or While still some distance from] Ephrath [^Cnear Bethlehem four miles south of Jerusalem; 35:19], Rachel began giving birth to her baby [^Land had hard labor], ¹⁷ but she was having ·much trouble [hard labor]. When ·Rachel’s nurse [^Lthe midwife] saw this, she said, “Don’t be afraid, Rachel. You are giving birth to another son.” ¹⁸ Rachel gave birth to the son, but she herself died. As she lay dying, she named the boy ·Son of My Suffering [Ben-oni], but Jacob called him Benjamin [^C“son of my right hand/the south”].

¹⁹ Rachel was buried on the road to Ephrath, ·a district of [or which is] Bethlehem, ²⁰ and Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. It is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹ Then Israel [^CJacob’s new name] continued his journey and ·camped [^Lpitched his tent] just south of ·Migdal Eder [or the tower of Eder; ^CEder means “the flock”; perhaps located near Jerusalem; Mic. 4:8].

²² While Israel was there, Reuben ·had sexual relations [^Llay] with Israel’s ·slave woman [concubine] Bilhah, and Israel heard about it [49:3–4].

The Family of Israel

Jacob had twelve sons. ²³ He had six sons by his wife Leah: Reuben, his ·first son [firstborn], then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ He had two sons by his wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ He had two sons by Rachel’s slave girl Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ And he had two sons by Leah’s slave girl Zilpah: Gad and Asher.

These are Jacob’s sons who were born in ·northwestern Mesopotamia [^LPaddan-aram].

²⁷ Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre near Hebron [13:18; 18:1; 23:17–18; 25:9], where Abraham and Isaac had ·lived [sojourned; lived as an alien]. ²⁸ Isaac lived one hundred eighty years. ²⁹ So Isaac breathed his last breath and died [^Land was gathered to his people/relatives; 25:8] when he was very old [^Land full of days], and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.