1   God said to Jacob, ‘Go up to Bethel and settle there; build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau.’ 2   So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, ‘Rid yourselves of the foreign gods which you have among you, purify yourselves, and see your clothes are mended. ^note 3   We are going to Bethel, so that I can set up an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress, and who has been with me all the way that I have come.’ 4   So they handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and the rings from their ears, and he buried

Jacob and Esau them under the terebinth-tree near Shechem. 5   Then they set out, and the cities round about were panic-stricken, and the inhabitants dared not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6   Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz, that is Bethel, in Canaan. 7   There he built an altar, and he called the place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he was running away from his brother. 8   Rebecca's nurse Deborah died and was buried under the oak below Bethel, and he named it Allon-bakuth. ^note

9   Go appeared again to Jacob when he came back from Paddan-aram and blessed him. 10   God said to him:

  ‘Jacob is your name,
  but your name shall no longer be Jacob:
  Israel shall be your name.’

11   So he named him Israel. And God said to him:

  ‘I am God Almighty.
  Be fruitful and increase as a nation;
  a host of nations shall come from you,
  and kings shall spring from your body.
   12   The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you;
  and to your descendants after you I give this land.’

13    14   God then left him, ^note and Jacob erected a sacred pillar in the place where God had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he offered a drink-offering over it and poured oil on it. 15   Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

16   They set out from Bethel, and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrathah, Rachel was in labour and her pains were severe. 17   While her pains were upon her, the midwife said, ‘Do not be afraid, this is another son for you.’ 18   Then with her last breath, as she was dying, she named him Ben-oni, ^note but his father called him Benjamin. ^note 19   So Rachel died and was buried by the side of the road to Ephrathah, that is Bethlehem. 20   Jacob set up a sacred pillar over her grave; it is known to this day as the Pillar of Rachel's Grave. 21   Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent on the other side of Migdal-eder. 22   While Israel was living in that district, Reuben went and lay with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel came to hear of it.

23   The sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Jacob's first-born Reuben, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. 24   The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25   The sons of Rachel's slave-girl Bilhah:

Jacob and Esau Dan and Naphtali. 26   The sons of Leah's slave-girl Zilpah: Gad and Asher. 27   These were Jacob's sons, born to him in Paddan-aram. Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre by Kiriath-arba, that is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt. 28   Isaac had lived for a hundred and eighty years when he breathed his last. 29   He died and was gathered to his father's kin at a very great age, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

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