Genesis 35 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

Jacob Moves to Bethel

Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you [in a distinct manifestation] when you fled [years ago] from Esau your brother.”

Gen 35:2

Gen 35:2Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the [idols and images of] foreign gods that are among you, and ceremonially purify yourselves and change [into fresh] clothes;

Gen 35:3

Gen 35:3then let us get up and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

Gen 35:4

Gen 35:4So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the [fn]oak tree near Shechem.

Gen 35:5

As they journeyed, there was a great [supernatural] terror [sent from God] on the cities around them, and [for that reason] the Canaanites did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Gen 35:6

Gen 35:6So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

Gen 35:7

Gen 35:7There he built an altar [to worship the LORD], and called the place El-bethel (God of the House of God), because there God had revealed Himself to him when he escaped from his brother.

Gen 35:8

Gen 35:8Now Deborah, [who once was] Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth (Oak of Weeping).

Jacob Is Named Israel

Gen 35:9

Then God [in a visible manifestation] appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan-aram, and declared a blessing on him.

Gen 35:10

Gen 35:10Again God said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;

You shall no longer be called Jacob,

But Israel shall be your name.”

So he was called [fn]Israel.

Gen 35:11

Gen 35:11And God said to him,

“I am [fn]God Almighty.

Be fruitful and multiply;

A nation and a company of nations shall come from you,

And kings shall be born of your [fn]loins.

Gen 35:12

“The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac

I will give to you,

and to your descendants after you I will give the land.”

Gen 35:13

Then God ascended from Jacob in the place where He had spoken with him.

Gen 35:14

Gen 35:14Jacob set up a pillar (memorial, monument) in the place where he had talked with God, a pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering [of wine] on it; he also poured oil on it [to declare it sacred for God’s purpose].

Gen 35:15

Gen 35:15So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (the House of God).

Gen 35:16

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely.

Gen 35:17

Gen 35:17When she was in hard labor the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid; you now have another son.”

Gen 35:18

Gen 35:18And as her soul was departing, (for she died), she named him Ben-oni (son of my sorrow); but his father called him Benjamin ([fn]son of the right hand).

Gen 35:19

Gen 35:19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Gen 35:20

Gen 35:20Jacob set a pillar (memorial, monument) on her grave; that is the [fn]pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

Gen 35:21

Gen 35:21Then Israel (Jacob) journeyed on and pitched his tent on the other side of the tower of Eder [the lookout point used by shepherds].

The Sons of Israel

Gen 35:22

While Israel was living in that land, Reuben [his eldest son] went and lay with Bilhah his father’s [fn]concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons—

Gen 35:23

Gen 35:23The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

Gen 35:24

Gen 35:24and the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

Gen 35:25

Gen 35:25and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

Gen 35:26

Gen 35:26and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob born to him in Paddan-aram.

Gen 35:27

Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived temporarily.

Gen 35:28

Now the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

Gen 35:29

Gen 35:29Isaac’s spirit departed and he died and was [fn]gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death], an old man full of days (satisfied, fulfilled); his sons Esau and Jacob buried him [in the cave of Machpelah with his parents Abraham and Sarah].