1God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel, live there, and build an altar to God, who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau.”
2So Jacob told his household and everyone with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes.
3Let’s go up to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my time of trouble and was with me wherever I went.”
4They gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings from their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.
5As they traveled, a great fear from God fell upon the cities around them, and no one pursued Jacob’s sons.
6So Jacob and all the people with him arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
7There he built an altar and called the place El Bethel, because God had revealed himself to him there when he was running away from his brother.
8Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak tree, which was named Allon Bacuth (meaning ‘Oak of Weeping’).
9God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him.
10God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. But you will no longer be called Jacob; your new name will be Israel." So God named him Israel.
11God also said to him, "I am God Almighty. Have many children and grow in number. You will become a great nation, even a group of nations, and kings will be among your descendants.
12I will give you and your future descendants the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac."
13Then God left Jacob from the place where they had spoken.
14Jacob set up a stone pillar in the place where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and also poured oil on it.
15Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him "Bethel."
16They traveled from Bethel. While there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and it was a very difficult birth.
17During her hard labor, the midwife told her, "Don't be afraid, because you are having another son."
18As she was dying—because she did die—she named him Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin.
19Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, which is now called Bethlehem.
20Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. That pillar, marking Rachel's grave, is still there today.
21Israel continued his journey and set up his tent past the tower of Eder.
22While Israel lived in that land, Reuben slept with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons.
23Leah's sons were Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
24Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.
25Bilhah's sons (Rachel's servant) were Dan and Naphtali.
26Zilpah's sons (Leah's servant) were Gad and Asher. These are Jacob's sons, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27Jacob then went to his father Isaac in Mamre, in Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived as foreigners.
28Isaac lived to be 180 years old.
29Isaac died at a very old age. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him alongside his people.