1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
35:1-151 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
Go to Bethel and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from Esau. [1]
2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
Put away all your strange gods, be clean, and change your clothes.
3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
Get up. We're going to Bethel to build an altar to God.
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
So everyone gave Jacob all their strange gods (which were in their hands) and earrings (which were in their ears).
Jacob hid them under the oak tree near Shechem.
5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
As they traveled toward Bethel, the terror of God [2] on the surrounding cities, so no one bothered them as they passed by.
6So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
So Jacob came to Luz. [3]
7 And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.
Jacob built an altar and called the place "Elbethel".
9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
God appeared to Jacob again [4] and blessed him, saying,
Your name is Jacob, but it won't be Jacob anymore. Israel will be your name from now on. [5]
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
I am God almighty. Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation, a company of nations, and kings will come out of your loins.
The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I'll give to you and your seed.
13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked to God. And he poured wine and oil on it.
15And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
Jacob names Bethel again. [6]
35:16-2116 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
19And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.
21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
Jacob set one of his many pillars on Rachel's grave. It's still there today.
35:22-2722 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
Jacob's oldest son, Reuben, had sex with his father's concubine, Bilhah.
Jacob (aka Israel) heard about it.
23The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi.... [8]
35:28-2928 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Isaac finally dies at the age of 180. [9]
Presumably God is referring to himself here in the third person. The God who appeared to Jacob when he was fleeing Esau was the man/god that Jacob beat in a wrestling match.
God appears to Jacob so often that he's becoming a bit of a pest.
God names Jacob "Israel" for the second time. (See 32:28 for the first naming.) He says that Jacob will no longer be called Jacob. Yet Jacob is still called Jacob in the Bible, and even God calls him Jacob in 46:2.
The first time Jacob named Bethel (28:19) the name didn't stick.
In the Bible, a woman is expected to die happily as long as she has a son.
Remember back in chapter 27, when Rebekah and Jacob conspire to rob Esau of the blessing of his dying father? Yeah, well, that was when Isaac was only 100 years old - 80 years before he finally dies here in chapter 35..
God tells Jacob again that his name is "Israel" from now on.
Rachel dies tragically when her son, Benjamin, is born.
Reuben sleeps with his father's concubine.
Random genealogy of Leah's sons.
Isaac dies.
A rather bizarrely paced chapter.