Genesis 35:5

5 When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob's sons.^[a]

Genesis 35:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 35:5

And they journeyed
Jacob and his family, with all that were with them, from Shechem to Bethel:

and the terror of God was upon the cities that [were] round about
them;
an exceeding great panic seized the inhabitants of the cities of the land of Canaan, all about Shechem, which was from God himself impressing it on their minds, through what the sons of Jacob had done to that city:

and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob;
as it might have been thought they would, and take revenge on them for their ill usage of the inhabitants of a neighbouring city; but instead of this, they were afraid they should be used in the same manner; wherefore Jacob and his family journeyed in safety, and came to Bethel in peace.

Genesis 35:5 In-Context

3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone."

4 Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.

5 When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob's sons.

6 So Jacob and all who were with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

7 Jacob built an altar there and called the place God of Bethel because it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ex 23:27