Genesis 35

1 [Some time later] God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to worship me, God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your older brother Esau.”

And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.

2 So Jacob said to his household and to all the others who were with him, “Get rid of the idols you brought from Mesopotamia. Also, bathe yourselves and put on clean clothes.

Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and put on a change of clothing:

3 Then we will get ready and go up to Bethel. There I will make an altar to worship God. He is the one who helped me at the time when I was greatly distressed and afraid, and he has been with me wherever I have gone.”

And let us go up to Beth-el: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.

4 So they gave to Jacob all the idols that they had brought, and all their earrings. Jacob buried them in the ground under the big oak tree that was near Shechem [town].

Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.

5 As they prepared to leave there, God caused the people who lived in the cities around them to be extremely afraid of Jacob’s family [PRS], so that they did not pursue and attack them.

So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.

6 Jacob and all those who were with him came to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the Canaan region.

And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Beth-el), he and all his people.

7 There he built an altar. He named the place El-Bethel, [which means ‘God of Bethel]’, because it was there that God revealed himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from his older brother Esau.

And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.

8 Deborah, who had taken care of Isaac’s wife Rebekah when Rebekah was a small girl, was now very old. She died and was buried under an oak tree south of Bethel. So they named that place Allon-Bacuth, [which means ‘oak of weeping’].

And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.

9 After Jacob and his family returned from Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia, while they were still at Bethel, God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him.

Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,

10 God said to him again, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. It will be Israel.” So Jacob was then called ‘Israel’.

Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.

11 Then God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Produce many children. Your descendants will become many nations, and some of your descendants will be kings.

And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;

12 The land that I promised to give to [your grandfather] Abraham and [your father] Isaac, I will give to you. I will also give it to your descendants.”

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

13 When God finished talking there with Jacob, he left him.

Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him.

14 Jacob set up a large stone at the place where God had talked with him. He poured some wine and some [olive] oil on it to dedicate it to God.

And Jacob put up a pillar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it, and oil.

15 Jacob named that place Bethel, [which means ‘house of God]’, because God had spoken to him there.

And he gave to the place where God had been talking with him, the name of Beth-el.

16 Jacob and his family left Bethel and traveled south toward Ephrath [town]. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to have severe childbirth pains.

So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.

17 When her pain was the most severe, the (midwife/woman who helped her to give birth) said to Rachel, “Do not be afraid, because now you have given birth to another son!”

And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear; for now you will have another son.

18 But she was dying, and with her last breath she said, “Name him Benoni,” [which means ‘son of my sorrow]’, but his father named him Benjamin, [which means ‘son of my right hand]’.

And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.

19 After Rachel died, she was buried alongside the road to Ephrath, which is [now called] Bethlehem.

So Rachel came to her end and was put to rest on the road to Ephrath (which is Beth-lehem).

20 Jacob set up a large stone over her grave, and it is still there, showing where Rachel’s grave is.

And Jacob put up a pillar on her resting-place; which is named, The Pillar of the resting-place of Rachel, to this day.

21 Jacob, whose new name was Israel, continued traveling with his family, and he set up his tents on the south side of the watchtower at Eder [town].

And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock.

22 While they were living in that area, Jacob’s son Reuben had sex [EUP] with Bilhah, one of his father’s (concubines/female slaves whom he had taken as a secondary wife). Someone told Jacob about it, and it made him very angry. (I will now give you/Here is) a list of Jacob’s twelve sons.

Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman: and Israel had news of it.

23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, who was Jacob’s oldest son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulon.

Now Jacob had twelve sons: the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

25 The sons of Rachel’s female slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali;

26 The sons of Leah’s female slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. All those sons of Jacob, except Benjamin, were born while he was living in Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia.

The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher; these are the sons whom Jacob had in Paddan-aram.

27 Jacob had returned back home to see his father Isaac at Mamre, which is also named Kiriath-Arba, and which is now named Hebron. Isaac’s father Abraham had also lived there.

And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.

28 Isaac lived until he was 180 years old.

And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old.

29 He was very old when he died, joining his ancestors who had died previously. His sons Esau and Jacob buried his body.

Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.