Jacob Goes Up to Bethel
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to aBethel and live there, and make an altar there to bGod, who appeared to you cwhen you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his ahousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away bthe foreign gods which are among you and ccleanse yourselves and change your garments; 3 and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make aan altar there to God, bwho answered me in the day of my distress and chas been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.
5 Then they journeyed on, and there was aa terror from God upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to aLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7 aAnd he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 Then aDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.
Jacob Is Renamed Israel
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ablessed him. 10 aAnd God said to him,
“Your name is Jacob;
Your name shall no longer be called Jacob,
But Israel shall be your name.”
Thus He called his name Israel. 11 God also said to him,
“I am aGod Almighty;
bBe fruitful and multiply;
A nation and an cassembly of nations shall come from you,
And dkings shall come forth from your loins.
12 aAnd the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I will give it to you,
And I will give the land to your seed after you.”
13 Then aGod went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up aa pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, aBethel.