Jacob purges his family from idols: goes by God’s commandment to Bethel, and there builds an altar. God appearing again to Jacob blesses him, and changs his name into Israel. Rachel dies in childbirth. Isaac also dies.

¹ About this time, God said to Jacob, “Arise and go up to Bethel, and live there, and make an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

² In truth, Jacob, having called together all his house, said: “Cast away the foreign gods that are in your midst and be cleansed, and also change your garments.

³ Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, so that we may make an altar there to God, who heeded me in the day of my tribulation, and who accompanied me on my journey.”

⁴ Therefore, they gave him all the foreign gods which they had, and the earrings which were in their ears. And then he buried them under the terebinth tree, which is beyond the city of Shechem.

⁵ And when they had set out, the terror of God invaded all the surrounding cities, and they dared not pursue them as they withdrew.

⁶ And so, Jacob arrived at Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, also named Bethel: he and all the people with him.

⁷ And he built an altar there, and he called the name of that place, ‘House of God.’ For there, God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸ About the same time, Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, died, and she was buried at the base of Bethel, under an oak tree. And the name of that place was called, ‘Oak of Weeping.’¹

1. 35:8Cities were generally built on high ground, so Deborah was buried on the outskirts of the city, at its roots or base.(Conte)

⁹ Then God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

¹⁰ saying: “You will no longer be called Jacob, for your name shall be Israel.” And he called him Israel,¹

1. 35:10Israel: This name signifies one that prevails with God.(Challoner)

¹¹ and he said to him: “I am Almighty God: increase and multiply. Tribes and peoples of nations will be from you, and kings will go forth from your loins.

¹² And the land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, and to your offspring after you.”

¹³ And he withdrew from him.

¹⁴ In truth, he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him, pouring out libations over it, and pouring oil,

¹⁵ and he called the name of that place, ‘Bethel.’

¹⁶ Then, departing from there, he arrived in springtime at the land that leads to Ephrath. And there, when Rachel was giving birth,

¹⁷ because it was a difficult birth, she began to be in danger. And the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you will have this son also.”

¹⁸ Then, when her life was departing because of the pain, and death was now imminent, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my pain. Yet truly, his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand.

¹⁹ And so Rachel died, and she was buried in the way that leads to Ephrath: this place is Bethlehem.

²⁰ And Jacob erected a monument over her sepulcher. This is the monument to Rachel’s tomb, even to the present day.

²¹ Departing from there, he pitched his tent beyond the Tower of the Flock.

²² And when he was living in that region, Reuben went out, and he slept with Bilhah the concubine of his father, which was not such a small matter as to be hidden from him. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.¹

1. 35:22The concubine: She was his lawful wife; but, according to the style of the Hebrews, is called concubine, because of her servile extraction.(Challoner)

²³ The sons of Leah: Reuben the first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bilhah, handmaid of Rachel: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Zilpah, handmaid of Leah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

²⁷ And then he went to his father Isaac in Mamre, the city of Arba: this place is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸ And the days of Isaac were completed: one hundred and eighty years.

²⁹ And being consumed by old age, he died. And he was placed with his people, being old and full of days. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him.