Genesis 35:1-15

Jacob Returns to Bethel

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.
3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.
5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.
6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
7 There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel,[a] because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.[b]
9 After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,[c] God appeared to him again and blessed him.
10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob,[d] but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.[e] ” So he named him Israel.
11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty[f] ; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.
12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”
13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.
14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.
15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.[g]

Cross References 39

  • 1. S Genesis 12:8; Genesis 28:19
  • 2. S Genesis 4:26; Genesis 8:20
  • 3. ver 3
  • 4. S Genesis 12:7
  • 5. ver 7; Genesis 27:43
  • 6. Genesis 18:19; Joshua 24:15
  • 7. S Genesis 31:19; S Joshua 24:14
  • 8. Exodus 19:10,14; Numbers 8:7,21; Numbers 19:19
  • 9. ver 1
  • 10. S Genesis 32:7; S Judges 2:15
  • 11. S Genesis 26:3; Ge 28:15,20-22; Genesis 31:3,42
  • 12. S Genesis 24:22; Exodus 32:3; Exodus 35:22; Judges 8:24; Proverbs 25:12
  • 13. ver 8
  • 14. S Genesis 12:6; Joshua 24:25-26
  • 15. Exodus 15:16; Exodus 23:27; Deuteronomy 2:25; Joshua 2:9; 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 13:7; 1 Samuel 14:15; 2 Chronicles 14:14; 2 Chronicles 17:10; 2 Chronicles 20:29; Psalms 9:20; Isaiah 19:17; Zechariah 14:13
  • 16. Psalms 105:14
  • 17. S Genesis 28:19; Genesis 48:3
  • 18. S Genesis 10:19
  • 19. S Genesis 8:20
  • 20. Genesis 28:19
  • 21. S Genesis 28:13
  • 22. S ver 1
  • 23. Genesis 24:59
  • 24. ver 4
  • 25. S Genesis 12:8; 1 Samuel 10:3
  • 26. S Genesis 25:20
  • 27. S Genesis 28:13; S Genesis 32:29
  • 28. S Genesis 17:5
  • 29. S Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3
  • 30. S Genesis 12:2
  • 31. S Genesis 12:2; Genesis 28:3; Genesis 48:4
  • 32. S Genesis 17:6
  • 33. S Genesis 13:15; Genesis 28:13
  • 34. S Genesis 12:7; S Genesis 15:7; Genesis 26:3
  • 35. S Genesis 17:22
  • 36. S Genesis 28:22
  • 37. Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 23:13; Numbers 6:15,17; Numbers 15:5; Numbers 28:7,14; 2 Samuel 23:16; 2 Chronicles 29:35
  • 38. S Genesis 28:18
  • 39. S Genesis 12:8; Genesis 28:19

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. "El Bethel" means "God of Bethel."
  • [b]. "Allon Bakuth" means "oak of weeping."
  • [c]. That is, Northwest Mesopotamia; also in verse 26
  • [d]. "Jacob" means "he grasps the heel" , a Hebrew idiom for "he deceives" .
  • [e]. "Israel" probably means "he struggles with God."
  • [f]. Hebrew "El-Shaddai"
  • [g]. "Bethel" means "house of God."
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.