1God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” (创27:43; 创28:19)2So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. (创18:19; 创31:19; 出19:10; 书24:15; 书24:23; 撒上7:3)3Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” (创28:20; 创31:3; 创32:7; 创32:24)4So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. (书24:26; 士9:6)5And 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.6And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, (创28:19)7and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,[1] because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. (创35:1)8And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.[2] (创24:59)9God appeared[3] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.10And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. (创17:5; 创17:15; 创32:28)11And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:[4] be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.[5] (创17:1; 创17:5; 创17:16; 创26:4; 创28:3; 创48:4)12The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” (创12:7; 创13:15; 创17:8; 创26:3; 创28:13)13Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. (创17:22)14And Jacob 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. (创28:18; 创31:45)15So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. (创28:19)
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
16Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance[6] from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor.17And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” (创30:24)18And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;[7] but his father called him Benjamin.[8] (路1:59)19So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), (创48:7; 得1:2; 得4:11; 弥5:2; 太2:6; 太2:16)20and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. (撒上10:2; 撒下18:18)21Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. (创49:4; 撒下16:22; 撒下20:3; 代上5:1; 林前5:1)23The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. (创46:8; 出1:2)24The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.25The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali.26The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.27And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. (创13:18; 创23:2; 创23:19; 书14:15; 书15:13)28Now the days of Isaac were 180 years.29And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (创15:15; 创25:8; 创25:9; 创49:31)