God sent Jacob and his family to live in Bethel

1Then God said to Jacob, “Go back and live in Bethel. And pile up some stones to make an altar there so that you can burn animals to show me respect. Bethel is the place where I met you and showed you that stairway going up to heaven when you were running away from your brother Esau.”

2So Jacob said to everyone in his camp, “We are going to live in a place called Bethel. God met me there and helped me when I was really frightened. And from that time, he has always been with me and looked after me. So now there are two things that you have to do before we go to Bethel. The first thing is that you have to throw away any ceremony or magic things you took from your homeland. And if you picked up any magic thing here in Shekem you have to throw that away too. The second thing is, go and wash yourselves and then put on clean clothes. When we get to Bethel, I will pile up stones to make an altar and burn an animal to show respect to God.”

4So all the people in Jacob's camp gave him all their earrings and ceremony things they had, and Jacob buried them under the big tree near Shekem.

5When they left Shekem to go to Bethel, God made the people that lived around Shekem really frightened of Jacob and his family. The people in those towns did not try to chase them or try to pay them back for what Jacob's sons did in Shekem.

6Jacob and all the people with him got to a place called Luz. The other name for Luz is Bethel and it is in the country of Canaan.

7Jacob made his camp there and built a stone table called an altar so that he could burn an animal to show respect for God. Jacob changed the name of that place to El-Bethel, which means The God of God's house. Years before, God had met with him there when he was running away from his brother Esau. At that time he called the meeting place Bethel, but now it was called El-Bethel.

8Many years before this time, when Jacob's mother Rebekah was a young girl, she had a woman named Deborah who looked after her. When Rebekah left her homeland and married Isaac, Deborah went with her to live in Canaan. But when Deborah was very old, she died. And someone buried her under the big tree just south of Bethel and from that time, that place was called You can cry under this tree.

9So Jacob and all his people had come back from his mother's homeland called Harran. And while they were camped at Bethel, God met Jacob again and blessed him. God was going to do good things for Jacob and make him strong and so he said to Jacob, “I am God Most Powerful. Your name is Jacob, but I am changing your name to Israel. You are going to have a lot of children so that your family becomes a lot of nations. And I tell you that some of the men in your family will be kings. Those kings will be the leaders of those nations.

12I promised this country to your grandfather Abraham and to your father Isaac, and now I am making the same promise to you. This country is now your country and it will be for all the family that comes from you.”

13Then God left Jacob standing all by himself.

14When God left him, Jacob put a big stone up on its end so that people could see it. And he poured wine and olive oil all over it so that everyone would know it was a special place.

15He called that place Bethel, God's House, because that was where God talked to him.

Rachel died

16Some time later, Jacob and all his people left Bethel and went to a place called Bethlehem. Before they got there, it was time for Rachel's second baby to be born.

17But Rachel was having a lot of trouble, so the nurse helping her said, “Do not be frightened Rachel. You have another son.”

18Rachel was dying as the baby was born, and just before she died Rachel named the baby, Ben-Oni which means This boy has given me a lot of trouble. But Jacob named him, Benjamin which means This is my son. He will be with me and will make me feel happy.

19Jacob buried Rachel next to the road that went to Bethlehem.

20Jacob put a tall stone over Rachel's grave, and it is still there today.

Reuben did the wrong thing with Bilhah

21Israel, who was named Jacob before, left there and went past a place called Migdal Eder, and made his camp on the other side.

22While they were camped in that country, Jacob's eldest son Reuben slept with Bilhah like she was his wife. Bilhah was one of Jacob's 4 wives, and when Jacob heard what Reuben did, he was very upset. Israel's family Jacob had 12 sons.

23Leah had 6 sons with Jacob and their names were Reuben who was Jacob's oldest son, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Iss-a-car and Zeb-you-lun.

24Rachel had 2 sons with Jacob and their names were Joseph and Benjamin.

25Rachel's worker named Bilhah had 2 sons with Jacob and their names were Dan and Naftali.

26Leah's worker named Zilpah had 2 sons with Jacob and their names were Gad and Asher. So, this is the full list of Jacob's sons born in Harran.

Isaac died and his sons Jacob and Esau buried him

27Jacob moved back to live in Mamre. This was where Abraham and his father Isaac had camped before. Mamre was near a place called Kiriath Arba and that is now called Hebron.

28Isaac was 180 years old when he died. He lived a long time and a lot of good things happened to him. Isaac's 2 sons, Esau and Jacob buried him in the family cemetery.