Genesis 35:3-13

3 rise ye, and go we up into Bethel, that we make there an altar to the Lord, which heard me in the day of my tribulation, and was fellow of my way. (rise ye, and go we up to Bethel, to make there an altar to the Lord, who answered me on the day of my trouble, and who gave me fellowship on the way.)

4 Therefore they gave to Jacob all the alien gods which they had, and [the] earrings, that were in their ears; and Jacob delved them under a terebinth tree, which is behind the city of Shechem. (And so they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, and the earrings that they were wearing; and Jacob buried them under the terebinth tree, which is behind the city of Shechem.)

5 And when they went (forth), dread assailed all men by compass of the city, and they were not hardy to pursue them going away. (And when they went forth, the fear of God assailed all the men of the cities about, and they were not hardy to pursue after them.)

6 Therefore Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, by the sire-name Bethel, he and all his people with him. (And so Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.)

7 And he builded there an altar to the Lord, and called the name of that place The house of God, for God appeared there to him, when he fled his brother. (And he built there an altar to the Lord, and called the name of that place El-bethel, for God appeared to him there, when he fled from his brother.)

8 Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, died in the same time, and she was buried at the root[s] of Bethel, under an oak, and the name of the place was called The Oak of Weeping. (And Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, died at that time, and she was buried south of Bethel, under an oak tree, and that place was called Allonbachuth.)

9 Forsooth God appeared again to Jacob, after that he turned again from Mesopotamia of Syria, and came into Bethel, and blessed him, (And God appeared again to Jacob, after that he had returned from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him,)

10 and (he) said, Thou shalt no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And (so) God called him Israel,

11 and said to him, I am God Almighty (and he said to him, I am Almighty God); increase thou, and be thou multiplied, (yea,) folks and peoples of nations shall be of thee, (and) kings shall go out of thy loins;

12 and I shall give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac.

13 And (then) God departed from him.

Genesis 35:3-13 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.