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, Arise, go up to the place, Baethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God that appeared to you, when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.

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.

And Jacob said to his house, and to all that were with him, Remove the strange gods that are with you from the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes.

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 rise and go up to Baethel, and let us there make an altar to God who listened to me in the day of calamity, who was with me, and preserved me throughout in the journey, by which 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].

And they gave to Jacob the strange gods, which were in their hands, and the ear-rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the turpentine tree which is in Secima, and destroyed them to this day.

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 Israel departed from Secima, and the fear of God was upon the cities round about them, and they did not pursue after the children of Israel.

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 Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, which is Baethel, he and all the people that were with him.

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 he built there an altar, and called the name of the place Baethel; for there God appeared to him, when he fled from the face of his brother Esau.

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 Deborrha, Rebecca's nurse, died, and was buried below Baethel under the oak; and Jacob called its name, The Oak of Mourning.

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.

And God appeared to Jacob once more in Luza, when he came out of Mesopotamia of Syria, and God blessed him.

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

And God said to him, Your name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; and he called his name 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 your God; increase and multiply; for nations and gatherings of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins.

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 Abraam and Isaac, I have given it to you; and it shall come to pass that I will give this land also to your seed after you.

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

And God went up from him from the place where he spoke 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 set up a pillar in the place where God spoke with him, [even] a pillar of stone; and offered a libation upon it, and poured oil upon it.

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

And Jacob called the name of the place in which God spoke with him, Baethel.

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.

[[And Jacob removed from Baethel, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Gader, ]] and it came to pass when he drew near to Chabratha, to enter into Ephratha, Rachel travailed; and in her travail she was in hard labor.

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 it came to pass in her hard labor, that the midwife said to her, Be of good courage, for you shall also have this 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 it came to pass in her giving up the ghost (for she was dying), that she called his name, The son of my pain; but his father called his name Benjamin.

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

So Rachel died, and was buried in the way of the course of Ephratha, this is Bethleem.

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

And Jacob set up a pillar on her tomb; this is the pillar on the tomb of Rachel, until 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 it came to pass when Israel lived in that land, that Ruben went and lay with Balla, the concubine of his father Jacob; and Israel heard, and the thing appeared grievous before him.

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.

And the sons of Jacob were twelve.

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

The sons of Lea, the firstborn of Jacob; Ruben, Symeon, Levi, Judas, Issachar, Zabulon.

24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

And the sons of Rachel; Joseph and Benjamin.

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

And the sons of Balla, the handmaid of Rachel; Dan and Nephthalim.

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.

And the sons of Zelpha, the handmaid of Lea; Gad and Aser. These [are] the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

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 Isaac his father to Mambre, to a city of the plain; this is Chebron in the land of Chanaan, where Abraam and Isaac sojourned.

28 Isaac lived until he was 180 years old.

And the days of Isaac which he lived were an hundred and eighty years.

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

And Isaac gave up the ghost and died, and was laid to his family, old and full of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.