1 God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
Adverts
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes.
3 Come! Let us go up to Bethel, where I will make an altar to the God who heard me in the day of my trouble and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 Then they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the earrings they wore in their ears, and Jacob buried them at the foot of the great tree, near Shechem.
5 When they left, the terror of God fell so upon the surrounding cities that no one dared to pursue the sons of Jacob.
Adverts
6 Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz, which is Bethel, in the land of Canaan.
7 There he built an altar and named it El-Betel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8 Deborah, Rebeca's nurse, died and was buried near Bethel, at the foot of the Oak, which was therefore called Alom-Bacute.
9 After Jacob returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him,
10 saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; His name will be Israel.” Thus he gave it the name Israel.
11 And God said to him: “I am God Almighty; be prolific and multiply. From you will come a nation and a community of nations, and kings will be among your descendants.
12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and I will also give this land to your future descendants.”
13 Then God rose from the place where he had been speaking to Jacob.
14 Jacob set up a stone pillar in the place where God had spoken to him, and poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.
15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken to him Bethel.
16 They left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrathah, Rachel began to give birth with great difficulty.
17 And while she was suffering a lot, trying to give birth, the midwife said to her: “Don’t be afraid, because you will have another boy.”
18 When he was about to die, he gave his son the name Benoni. But his father named him Benjamin.
19 So Rachel died and was buried along the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
20 Over her grave Jacob erected a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel's tomb.
21 Israel set out again and set up camp ahead of Migdal-eder.
22 At the time when Israel lived in that region, Reuben slept with Bilhah, his father's concubine. And Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
23 These were his sons by Leah: Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
24 These were his sons with Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25 These were his sons by Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali.
26 These were his sons by Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, born in Paddan-aram.
27 Then Jacob went to visit his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath-Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived.
28 Isaac lived one hundred and eighty years.
29 He died at a very old age and was reunited with his ancestors. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
