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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."
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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."
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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.
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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, because 10there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
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And 11Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.
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God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
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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: be 15fruitful and multiply. 16A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
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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."
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Then God 18went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him.
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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.