Genesis 35-36

Contemporary English Version

Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 ^(A) God told Jacob, “Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me.”

² Jacob said to his family and to everyone else who was traveling with him:

Get rid of your foreign gods! Then make yourselves acceptable to worship God and put on clean clothes. ³ Afterwards, we'll go to Bethel. I will build an altar there for God, who answered my prayers when I was in trouble and who has always been at my side.

⁴ So everyone gave Jacob their idols and their earrings,^[a] and he buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

⁵ While Jacob and his family were traveling through Canaan, God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them. ⁶ Finally, they reached Bethel, also known as Luz. ⁷ Jacob built an altar there and called it “God of Bethel,” because that was the place where God had appeared to him when he was running from Esau. ⁸ While they were there, Rebekah's personal servant Deborah^[b] died. They buried her under an oak tree and called it “Weeping Oak.”

God Blesses Jacob at Bethel

^9-11 (B)(C) After Jacob came back to the land of Canaan, God appeared to him again. This time he gave Jacob a new name and blessed him by saying:

I am God All-Powerful, and from now on your name will be Israel^[c] instead of Jacob. You will have many children. Your descendants will become nations, and some of the men in your family will even be kings. ¹² I will give you the land that I promised Abraham and Isaac, and it will belong to your family forever.

¹³ After God had gone, ^14 (D) Jacob set up a large rock, so that he would remember what had happened there. Then he poured wine and olive oil on the rock to show that it was dedicated to God, ¹⁵ and he named the place Bethel.^[d]

Benjamin Is Born

¹⁶ Jacob and his family had left Bethel and were still a long way from Ephrath, when the time came for Rachel's baby to be born. ¹⁷ She was having a rough time, but the woman who was helping her said, “Don't worry! It's a boy.” ¹⁸ Rachel was at the point of death, and right before dying, she said, “I'll name him Benoni.”^[e] But Jacob called him Benjamin.^[f]

¹⁹ Rachel was buried beside the road to Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem. ²⁰ Jacob set up a tombstone over her grave, and it is still there. ²¹ Jacob, also known as Israel, traveled to the south of Eder Tower, where he set up camp.

^22 (E) During their time there, Jacob's oldest son Reuben slept with Bilhah, who was one of Jacob's other wives.^[g] And Jacob found out about it.

Jacob's Twelve Sons

^23-26 Jacob had twelve sons while living in northern Syria.^[h] His first-born Reuben was the son of Leah, who later gave birth to Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah's servant Zilpah had two sons: Gad and Asher.

Jacob and his wife Rachel had Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel's servant woman Bilhah had two more sons: Dan and Naphtali.

Isaac Dies

^27 (F) Jacob went to his father Isaac at Hebron, also called Mamre or Kiriath-Arba, where Isaac's father Abraham had lived as a foreigner. ^28-29 Isaac died at the ripe old age of 180, then his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Esau's Family

36 Esau, also known as Edom, had many descendants. ^2 (G) He married three Canaanite women: The first was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; the second was Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite; ^3 (H) the third was Basemath, who was Ishmael's daughter and Nebaioth's sister.

^4-5 Esau and his three wives had five sons while in Canaan. Adah's son was Eliphaz; Basemath's son was Reuel; Oholibamah's three sons were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

⁶ Esau took his children and wives, his relatives and servants, his animals and possessions he had acquired while in Canaan, and moved far from Jacob. ⁷ He did this because the land was too crowded and could not support him and his brother with their flocks and herds. ⁸ That's why Esau made his home in the hill country of Seir.

^9-14 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir and was the ancestor of the Edomites. Esau had three wives: Adah, Basemath, and Oholibamah. Here is a list of his descendants: Esau and Adah had a son named Eliphaz, whose sons were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. Timna was the other wife^[i] of Esau's son Eliphaz, and she had a son named Amalek.

Esau and Basemath had a son named Reuel, whose sons were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

Esau and Oholibamah had three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

Chiefs and Leaders in Edom

¹⁵ Esau and Adah's oldest son was Eliphaz, and the clans that descended from him were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, ¹⁶ Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These and Esau's other descendants lived in the land of Edom.

¹⁷ The clans that descended from Esau and Basemath's son Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

¹⁸ The clans that descended from Esau and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁹ All of these clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom.

²⁰ Seir was from the Horite tribe that had lived in Edom before the time of Esau. The clans that had descended from him were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ²¹ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

²² Lotan's sons were Hori and Heman; his sister was Timna.

²³ Shobal's sons were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴ Zibeon's sons were Aiah and Anah—the same Anah who found an oasis^[j] in the desert while taking the donkeys of his father out to pasture.

²⁵ Anah's children were Dishon and Oholibamah.

²⁶ Dishon's sons were Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.

²⁷ Ezer's sons were Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸ Dishan's sons were Uz and Aran.

²⁹ The clans of the Horites were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, ³⁰ Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan, and they lived in the land of Seir.

^31-39 Before there were kings in Israel, the following kings ruled Edom one after another:

⁴⁰ The clans that descended from Esau took their names from their families and the places where they lived. They are Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, ⁴¹ Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, ⁴² Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, ⁴³ Magdiel, and Iram. These clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom, the father of the Edomites. They took their names from the places where they settled.