Jacob and his family returned to Bethel

35 Some time later God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to worship me, God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your older brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all the others who were with him, “Get rid of the idols you brought from Mesopotamia. Also, bathe yourselves and put on clean clothes. 3 Then we will get ready and go up to Bethel. There I will make an altar to worship God. He is the one who helped me at the time when I was greatly distressed and afraid, and he has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the idols that they had brought, and all their earrings. Jacob buried them in the ground under the big oak tree that was near Shechem town.

5 As they prepared to leave there, God caused the people who lived in the cities around them to be extremely afraid of Jacob’s family [PRS], so that they did not pursue and attack them. 6 Jacob and all those who were with him came to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the Canaan region. 7 There he built an altar. He named the place El-Bethel, which means ‘God of Bethel’, because it was there that God revealed himself to Jacob when he was fleeing from his older brother Esau.

8 Deborah, who had taken care of Isaac’s wife Rebekah when Rebekah was a small girl, was now very old. She died and was buried under an oak tree south of Bethel. So they named that place Allon-Bacuth, which means ‘oak of weeping’.

9 After Jacob and his family returned from Paddan-Aram/Mesopotamia, while they were still at Bethel, God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him. 10 God said to him again, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. It will be Israel.” So Jacob was then called ‘Israel’. 11 Then God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Produce many children. Your descendants will become many nations, and some of your descendants will be kings. 12 The land that I promised to give to your grandfather Abraham and your father Isaac, I will give to you. I will also give it to your descendants.”

13 When God finished talking there with Jacob, he left him. 14 Jacob set up a large stone at the place where God had talked with him. He poured some wine and some olive oil on it to dedicate it to God. 15 Jacob named that place Bethel, which means ‘house of God’, because God had spoken to him there.