Jacob Returns to Bethel
1. Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
2. So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
3. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4. And they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.
5. As they set out, a terror from God fell over the cities around them, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
6. Thus Jacob and all the people with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
7. And there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried beneath the oak below Bethel. So Jacob called it Allon-bacuth.
9. After Jacob returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
10. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but Israel will be your name.” So He named him Israel.
11. Then God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed a company of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.
12. And the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
13. Then God withdrew from him at the place where He had spoken to him.
14. So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken to him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
15. And Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
Benjamin Born, Rachel Dies
16. Then they set out from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
17. During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”
18. With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
19. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20. And Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which remains there to this day.
The Sons of Jacob
21. Then Israel set out again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.
22. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
23. The sons of Leah were Jacob’s firstborn Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
25. The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
26. And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
The Death of Isaac
27. Jacob came home to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.
28. Isaac lived to be 180 years old.
29. Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.