Return to Bethel; Rachel dies
Patriarchs · Draft · BSB
Content revision: e5d600aee99229cc · No editorial review date recorded
Date: not assigned.
God tells Jacob to go back to Bethel. His household puts away its foreign gods, and at Bethel God confirms the name Israel and repeats the promise. On the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin, and Jacob sets up a pillar on her grave. Genesis lists the twelve sons of Israel.
Primary Scripture
35:1 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.”
35:2 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.
35:3 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.”
35:4 So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.
35:5 As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
35:6 So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.
35:7 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.
35:8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.
35:9 After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
35:10 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.
35:11 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.
35:12 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.”
35:13 Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.
35:14 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.
35:15 Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
35:16 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.
35:17 During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”
35:18 And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
35:20 Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.
35:21 Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.
35:22 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:
35:23 The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
35:25 The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
35:26 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.
Location evidence
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.241389, 31.922778]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Bethel: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.241389, 31.922778]. Classification source: editorial.
Ephrath (Bethlehem): Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.207639, 31.704306]. Classification source: editorial.
For the class
What has changed in Jacob since he first came to Bethel?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/patriarchs.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm