Genesis 35:16-26

16 Soothly Jacob went out from thence, and he came in the beginning of summer to the land that leadeth to Ephratah; in which land when Rachel travailed in child bearing, (And Jacob went out from there, and at the beginning of summer he came to the way that leadeth to Ephrath; in which land when Rachel struggled, or laboured, to survive while giving birth,)

17 she began to be in peril for the hardness of (the) childbearing; and the midwife said to her, Do not thou dread, for thou shalt have also this son (and the midwife said to her, Do not thou fear, for thou shalt also have this son/for this is another son for you).

18 Forsooth while the soul passed from her for sorrow, and death nighed then, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow; forsooth his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right side. (But as her soul passed away from her, and death neared, she named her son Benoni, that is, The son of my sorrow; but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of my right hand.)

19 Therefore Rachel died, and was buried in the way that leadeth to Ephratah, that is Bethlehem. (And so Rachel died, and was buried on the way that leadeth to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.)

20 And Jacob builded a memorial upon the sepulchre of her; this is the memorial of the burial of Rachel unto this present day. (And Jacob put up a sacred pillar on her sepulchre; this is the same pillar that is on Rachel's grave unto this present day.)

21 Jacob went from thence, and setted a tabernacle over the tower of the flock. (And then Jacob went from there, and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder/beyond Migdaleder.)

22 And while he dwelled in that country, Reuben went, and slept with Bilhah, the secondary wife of his father, which thing was not hid from him (which was told to Jacob). Forsooth the sons of Jacob were twelve;

23 the sons of Leah were, the first begotten Reuben (Leah's sons were Reuben, the first-born), and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun;

24 the sons of Rachel were Joseph, and Benjamin;

25 the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel (Rachel's slave-girl), were Dan, and Naphtali;

26 and the sons of Zilpah, [the] handmaid of Leah, were Gad, and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria. (and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's slave-girl, were Gad, and Asher. These were Jacob's sons, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.)

Genesis 35:16-26 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.