Jacob’s Return to Bethel
1God said to Jacob, “Get up, go to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. 3Let us get up and go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in my day of distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, along with the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem. 5Then they set out, and a terror from God fell on the cities all around them, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob. 6So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan, he and all the people with him. 7There he built an altar and called the place El-Bethel, because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8Then Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon-Bacuth. 9God appeared again to Jacob after he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him. 10God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel. 11God also said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed a company of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. 12The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your offspring after you.” 13Then God went up from him, from the place where he had spoken with him. 14Jacob set up a pillar at the place where God had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
The Death of Rachel
16Then they set out from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. 17During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid — you have another son.” 18As she breathed her last, for she was dying, she named him Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin. 19So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. 20Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.
Reuben’s Sin and the Sons of Jacob
21Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. 23The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant: Dan and Naphtali. 26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant: Gad and Asher. These are the sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram.
The Death of Isaac
27Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived as foreigners. 28Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. 29Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
