Jacob Returns to Bethel

Then God said to Jacob,“Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

2 

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him,“Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

4 

So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and [all their] earrings and Jacob buried them under the oak[fn] near Shechem.

5 

As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. 6 So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. 7 There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place vvv vvv El-bethel,[fn] because it was there that God had revealed Himself to [Jacob] as he fled from his brother.

8 

Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak[fn] below vvv Bethel. So [Jacob] named [it] vvv Allon-bacuth.[fn]

9 

After [Jacob] had returned from Paddan-aram,[fn] God appeared to [him] again and blessed him. 10 And God said to him,“ [Though] your name is Jacob,[fn] you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead your name will be Israel.[fn]” So [God] named him Israel.

11 

And God told him,“ I am God Almighty.[fn] Be fruitful and multiply. A nation — even a company of nations — shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

13 

Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.

14 

So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where [God] had spoken with him— a stone marker— and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. 15 Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him vvv vvv Bethel.[fn]

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