Genesis 35

¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up, leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”

⁴Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there—

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁷There 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.

³⁶For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

¹⁴When Moses came down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.

¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

³¹Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

⁷In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.

³Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”

⁴²If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.”

⁶in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

⁶Then all the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo gathered beside the oak at the pillar in Shechem and proceeded to make Abimelech their king.

²²So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

²⁰Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

²⁴Then he added, “Let me make a request of you, that each of you give me an earring from his plunder.” (For the enemies had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.)

²⁵“We will give them gladly,” they replied. So they spread out a garment, and each man threw an earring from his plunder onto it.

²So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

³Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

²⁵You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the Lord your God.

²⁷I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.

¹⁰And the dread of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that surrounded Judah, so that they did not make war against Jehoshaphat.

⁵There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous.

¹Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and their spirits failed for fear of the Israelites.

⁹and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who dwell in the land are melting in fear of you.

¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites across the Jordan, whom you devoted to destruction.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

¹⁶and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O Lord, until the people You have bought pass by.

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

²²And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”

⁸From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the Lord, and he called on the name of the Lord.

³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me

²²The house of Joseph also attacked Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

²³They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz),

¹³And there at the top the Lord was standing and saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

¹Then 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.”

³Then 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.”

³⁵The perimeter of the city will be 18,000 cubits, and from that day on the name of the city will be: THE Lord IS THERE.”

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

⁵⁹So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.

¹³Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

¹Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,

⁵So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

²The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you.

¹Then the Lord appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.

¹Then 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.”

⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me

⁴and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

²And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob.

³“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.

²⁸Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

³¹And Elijah took twelve stones, one for each tribe of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come and said, “Israel shall be your name.”

³⁴To this day they are still practicing their former customs. None of them worship the Lord or observe the statutes, ordinances, laws, and commandments that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob, whom He named Israel.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

⁵No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the Lord I did not make Myself known to them.

¹⁸And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

¹³And there at the top the Lord was standing and saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

³Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

⁴I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

⁴and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

¹⁴After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, “Now lift up your eyes from the place where you are, and look to the north and south and east and west,

¹⁵for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

¹Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

²And the Lord said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor.

²²When He had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.

³³When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, He departed, and Abraham returned home.

⁵Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

²¹Then the angel of the Lord extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.

²⁰When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.

¹⁸Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

⁴⁵So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,

¹⁵And Moses built an altar and named it The Lord Is My Banner.

¹²Afterward, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.

⁷Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

¹⁹When Azubah died, Caleb married Ephrath, who bore to him Hur.

¹⁹“Go in peace,” said Elisha. But after Naaman had traveled a short distance,

²The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

²⁴She named him Joseph, and said, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

¹⁹Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.

²⁰As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.

⁹Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”

⁴⁶Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And when He had said this, He breathed His last.

²⁰As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.

²¹And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹²They cry out to their mothers: “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.

²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.

⁷Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

²The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.

¹¹“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the Lord make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

⁶‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

²When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

¹⁷They took Absalom, cast him into a large pit in the forest, and piled a huge mound of stones over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled, each to his home.

¹⁸During his lifetime, Absalom had set up for himself a pillar in the King’s Valley, for he had said, “I have no son to preserve the memory of my name.” So he gave the pillar his name, and to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.

¹⁴So 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.

⁹After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.

⁸And you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion—the former dominion will be restored to you; sovereignty will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”

⁸And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

¹These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.

⁸You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

¹It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

²¹Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

²²So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

³When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

²Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

¹⁸Then Leah said, “God has rewarded me for giving my maidservant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.

¹⁹Again Leah conceived and bore a sixth son to Jacob.

⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

³²And Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

²He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;

³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;

²²Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,

²³and she conceived and gave birth to a son. “God has taken away my shame,” she said.

¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

¹⁶Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.

¹⁷During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

⁴So Rachel gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife, and he slept with her,

⁵and Bilhah conceived and bore him a son.

²This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

²³The son of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

¹⁸And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁸and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.

¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob as a wife.

¹⁰And Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.

²“Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel, and take a wife from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

¹⁸So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the Oaks of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the Lord.

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

¹Then the Lord appeared to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre in the heat of the day, while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent.

¹³According to the Lord’s command to him, Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the sons of Judah—Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)

²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

⁷Abraham lived a total of 175 years.

²⁶So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.

²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years.

¹⁵You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.

³³When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.

⁷Abraham lived a total of 175 years.

⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

²⁶You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.

¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”