1 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 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 El-bethel, 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 below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bachuth. 9 After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel. 11 And God told him, “I am God Almighty. 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 Bethel. 16 Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. 17 During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.” 18 And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin. 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). 20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day. 21 Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons: 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. 26 And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. 28 And Isaac lived 180 years. 29 Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Genesis · Berean Standard Bible
Genesis 35 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Benjamin
Jacob's youngest, born as Rachel died giving him life.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 35:16–24; 49:27
Deborah
Rebekah's nurse, who died and was buried under the oak below Bethel, which Jacob named Allon-bachuth.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 35:8
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Rachel
Jacob's beloved wife, mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who died in childbirth.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 29-35
Reuben
Jacob's firstborn, who forfeited his standing by a grave offense.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 29:32; 35:22; 49:3–4
Cross references (29)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 31:13; Hosea 12:4; Psalm 91:15; Genesis 31:3; Genesis 35:7
- 2 Exodus 19:14; Exodus 19:10; Ezekiel 18:31; James 4:8; Hebrews 10:22
- 3 Isaiah 43:2; Genesis 32:7; Genesis 31:3; Genesis 31:42; Proverbs 3:6
- 4 Judges 9:6; Isaiah 30:22; Exodus 32:20; Judges 8:24–27; Exodus 32:2–4
- 5 Exodus 23:27; 2 Chronicles 17:10; Psalm 14:5; Joshua 5:1; Joshua 2:9–11
- 6 Genesis 28:19; Genesis 28:22; Genesis 12:8; Genesis 48:3; Judges 1:22–26
- 7 Genesis 28:13; Genesis 35:1; Genesis 35:3; Ezekiel 48:35; Genesis 28:19
- 8 Genesis 24:59; 1 Samuel 31:13; Judges 2:1; Judges 2:5
- 9 Genesis 26:2; Genesis 18:1; Genesis 35:1; Genesis 12:7; Genesis 48:3–4
- 10 Genesis 17:5; Genesis 32:27–28; Genesis 17:15; 1 Kings 18:31; 2 Kings 17:34
- 11 Genesis 17:1; Genesis 9:1; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 17:5–7; Exodus 6:3
- 12 Genesis 12:7; Genesis 28:13; Genesis 26:3–4; Genesis 48:4; Genesis 13:14–17
- 13 Genesis 17:22; Genesis 18:33; Genesis 11:5; Judges 6:21; Judges 13:20
- 14 Genesis 28:18–19; Genesis 35:20; Genesis 31:45; Exodus 17:15; 1 Samuel 7:12
- 15 Genesis 28:19
- 16 Micah 5:2; Genesis 48:7; 1 Chronicles 2:19; 2 Kings 5:19; Ruth 1:2
- 17 Genesis 30:24; 1 Samuel 4:19–21
- 18 1 Chronicles 4:9; Luke 23:46; 1 Samuel 4:20–21; Acts 7:59; Luke 12:20
- 19 Micah 5:2; Genesis 48:7; Ruth 1:2; Ruth 4:11; Matthew 2:6
- 20 1 Samuel 10:2; 2 Samuel 18:17–18; Genesis 35:14; Genesis 35:9
- 21 Micah 4:8; Luke 2:8
- 22 1 Chronicles 5:1; Leviticus 18:8; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 2 Samuel 16:21–22; 2 Samuel 20:3
- 23 Genesis 30:18–20; Genesis 46:8–15; Genesis 29:32–35; Genesis 33:2; Exodus 1:2–4
- 24 Genesis 30:22–24; Genesis 46:19–22; Genesis 35:16–18
- 25 Genesis 30:4–8; Genesis 37:2; Genesis 46:23–25
- 26 Genesis 35:18; Genesis 31:18; Genesis 46:16–18; Genesis 25:20; Genesis 30:9–13
- 27 Genesis 13:18; Genesis 23:19; Genesis 18:1; Joshua 15:13; Genesis 23:2
- 28 Genesis 25:7; Genesis 50:26; Genesis 47:28
- 29 Genesis 15:15; Genesis 49:33; Genesis 49:31; Genesis 25:7–9; Job 5:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… connection with which the mystery of the passion of the defect occurred, from which passion they maintain that all things visible were framed, they assert that is to be found strikingly and manifestly everywhere [in Scripture]. For they declare that the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom also sprung twelve tribes,-- the breastplate of the high priest, which bore twelve …
So then that Angel, who is understood to be the Lord Jesus, saith to Jacob, "Thou shalt not be any more called Jacob, but Israel shall thy name be," which is by interpretation, "Seeing God." After this He touched the sinew of his thigh, the broad part, that is, of the thigh, and it dried up; and Jacob became lame.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
Rachel was the mother of Benjamin, and on his death, they buried her in the horse-course that was near this place. The tomb then being near, and the portion pertaining unto Benjamin her infant (for Rama was of the tribe of Benjamin), from the head of the tribe first, and next from the place of her sepulture, He naturally denominates …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)