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Chapter 35

Jacob Returns to Bethel.[a] God said to Jacob, “Rise up, go to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from Esau, your brother, in that place.”

Jacob said to his family and to those who were with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that you have with you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 35:1 The Patriarch seems to be fleeing a threat of reprisal by the Shechemites (v. 5). Possibly he is also making a pilgrimage to his origins. In any case, this return to Bethel takes on a religious meaning: it is there that the Lord revealed himself to Jacob and there that he renewed his promises. The Patriarch and his family cleanse themselves and give up their pagan practices to affirm their faith in the one God to whom they wish to render homage; the Lord brooks no rivals in human hearts. This constitutes a first stable establishment of the People of God in the Holy Land.

Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel(A) and settle there, and build an altar(B) there to God,(C) who appeared to you(D) when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”(E)

So Jacob said to his household(F) and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods(G) you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.(H)

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