God Blesses and Renames Jacob
1
God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to 1Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you 2when you fled from your brother Esau."
2
So Jacob said to his 3household and to all who were with him, "Put away 4the foreign gods that are among you and 5purify yourselves and change your garments.
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Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God 6who answers me in the day of my distress and 7has been with me wherever I have gone."
4
So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under 8the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5
And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
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And Jacob came to 9Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,
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and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,a because 10there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
8
And 11Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.b
9
God appearedc to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
10
And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; 12no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but 13Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel.
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And God said to him, 14"I am God Almighty:d be 15fruitful and multiply. 16A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.e
12
17The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you."
13
Then God 18went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
14
And Jacob 19set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
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So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him 20Bethel.
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
16
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distancef from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.
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And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for 21you have another son."
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And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;g22but his father called him Benjamin.h
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and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is 25the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day.
21
Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22
While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and 26lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.
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The sons of Leah: 27Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
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The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
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The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali.
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The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
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And Jacob came to his father Isaac at 28Mamre, or 29Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.
28
Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)