4. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, and the earrings they were wearing, and he hid them under the great tree near the town of Shechem.
5. Then Jacob and his sons left there. But God caused the people in the nearby cities to be afraid, so they did not follow them.
6. And Jacob and all the people who were with him went to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the land of Canaan.
7. There Jacob built an altar and named the place Bethel, after God, because God had appeared to him there when he was running from his brother.
8. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak tree at Bethel, so they named that place Oak of Crying.
9. When Jacob came back from Northwest Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him.
10. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. Your new name will be Israel.” So he called him Israel.
11. God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Have many children and grow in number as a nation. You will be the ancestor of many nations and kings.
12. The same land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your descendants.”
13. Then God left him.
14. Jacob set up a stone on edge in that place where God had talked to him, and he poured a drink offering and olive oil on it to make it special for God.