Genesis 35:11-21

11 God also said to him, "I am ¹God Almighty; ²Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a ³company of nations shall come from you, And ⁴kings shall come forth from you.

12 "⁵The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you."

13 Then ⁶God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

14 Jacob set up ⁷a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

15 So Jacob named * the place where * God had spoken with him, ⁸Bethel.

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance * to go to ⁹Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor.

17 When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for now * ¹⁰you have another son."

18 It came about as her soul was departing (for she died ), that she named * him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

19 So ¹¹Rachel died and was buried on the way to ¹²Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem ).

20 Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the ¹³pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

21 Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond * the ¹⁴tower of Eder.

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Genesis 35:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 35

This chapter gives an account of Jacob's going to Bethel, and building an altar there by the order and direction of God, Ge 35:1-7, where Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died and was buried, Ge 35:8, and where God appeared to Jacob, confirmed the new name of Israel he had given him, and renewed to him the promises of the multiplication of his seed, and of their inheriting the land of Canaan, Ge 35:9-13; all which is gratefully acknowledged by Jacob, who erected a pillar in the place, and called it Bethel, in memory of God's gracious appearance to him there, Ge 35:14,15; from hence he journeyed towards his father's house, and on the way Rachel his wife fell in travail, and bore him a son, and died, and was buried near Ephrath, Ge 35:16-21; near this place Reuben committed incest with Bilhah, Ge 35:22, and the names of the twelve sons of Jacob are given, Ge 35:23-26; and the chapter is closed with an account of Jacob's arrival at his father's house, of the death of Isaac, and of his burial at the direction of his two sons, Ge 35:27-29.