1. Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, dwell there, and there make an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
2. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes.
3. Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and there I will make an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their possession and all their earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.
5. As they traveled, the terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.
6. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.
7. There he built an altar and called the place El Bethel, because God had appeared to him there when he fled from his brother.
8. Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried beneath Bethel under the oak. So it was called Allon Bakuth.
9. God appeared to Jacob again when he came out of Paddan Aram and blessed him.
10. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be called Jacob any more, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.
11. God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will come from you, and kings shall come forth from you.