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God Blesses and Renames Jacob

¹ God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to ^(a)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(b)when you fled from your brother Esau." ² So Jacob said to his ^(c)household and to all who were with him, "Put away ^(d)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(e)purify yourselves and change your garments. ³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God ^(f)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(g)has been with me wherever I have gone." ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ^(h)the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ And Jacob came to ⁽ⁱ⁾Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because ^(j)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸ And ^(k)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.^[b]

⁹ God appeared^[c] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; ^(l)no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but ^(m)Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, ⁽ⁿ⁾"I am God Almighty:^[d] be ^(o)fruitful and multiply. ^(p)A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^{[e] 12 (q)}The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you." ¹³ Then God ^(r)went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob ^(s)set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him ^(t)Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶ Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance^[f] from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷ And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for ^(u)you have another son." ¹⁸ And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;^{[g] (v)}but his father called him Benjamin.^{[h] 19} So ^(w)Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to ^(x)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), ²⁰ and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is ^(y)the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. ²¹ Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²² While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and ^(z)lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³ The sons of Leah: ^(aa)Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵ The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶ The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ And Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(ab)Mamre, or ^(ac)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. ²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. ²⁹ And Isaac breathed his last, and he died ^(ad)and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And ^(ae)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.