1
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
2
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments.
3
Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has 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 the 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.
6
And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,
7
and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
8
And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
9
God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
10
And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel.
11
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
12
The 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 went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
14
And Jacob set 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.
15
So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.