Genesis 35:1-29

God said to Jacob, “Arise, go at once to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of every foreign god you have, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Then come with me; let us go up to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God who answered my prayer when I was in distress and whose presence has been with me wherever I have gone.” Then they surrendered all the foreign gods they had as well as their earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem. As they made their way to Bethel, a tremendous fear of God fell upon all the cities around them, and no one dared pursue them. Jacob and all the people who were with him arrived in the land of Canaan at Luz, now known as Bethel. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel, because it was the place that God had unveiled himself when Jacob was running from his brother. During that time, Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died. They buried her under an oak tree near Bethel, and they named the place Weeping Oak. After Jacob returned from Paddan-Aram, God appeared to him once again and blessed him, saying, “Your name was once Jacob, but no longer. Your new name is Israel!” God named him Israel and said to him, “I am the God who is more than enough. Go and have many children, and they will multiply. A nation and a gathering of many nations will come from you; and you will be the ancestor of kings. I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, and after you are gone, to your descendants.” Then God ascended into heaven from the place where he had spoken to him. Jacob set up a stone pillar to memorialize the place where he had met with God. He poured over it a drink offering and anointed the pillar with oil. Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. From Bethel, they journeyed on, and as they were approaching Ephrath, Rachel went into very hard and painful labor. As she was having great difficulty in giving birth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you’re having another son!” With her dying breath, Rachel said, “His name is Son of My Sorrow,” but his father called him Son of My Right Hand. Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath (now Bethlehem). Jacob set up a pillar to mark her burial site, and it is known as The Marker of Rachel’s Tomb to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went and slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel found out. Jacob had twelve sons. Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob born to him in Paddan-Aram. Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived as foreigners. Isaac was one hundred and eighty when he breathed his last and died. He died an old man and had lived a full life when he joined his ancestors. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him there.