Then God spoke to Jacob: "Go up to Bethel. Settle there, and build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."
So Jacob gathered his household and all who were with him. "Rid yourselves of the foreign gods among you," he commanded. "Purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered me in my day of distress, and who has been with me wherever I have gone."
They handed over to Jacob all their idols and even the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak tree at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns around them, so that no one dared to pursue them.
Jacob and all the people with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar and named the place El-Bethel, for it was there that God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.
In those days, Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. She was buried under the oak below Bethel, which was named Allon-Bacuth—the Oak of Weeping.
After Jacob's return from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. "Your name is Jacob," God said, "but no longer will you be called Jacob. Your name shall be Israel." And He named him Israel. Then God declared: "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings will descend from your line. The land I gave to Abraham and to Isaac I now give to you, and I will give it to your descendants after you."
When God had finished speaking, He went up from Jacob at the place where He talked with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar there, pouring out a drink offering and oil upon it. He named the place Bethel, for there God had spoken with him.
They journeyed on from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into hard labor. The birth was difficult, and as she struggled, the midwife comforted her: "Do not be afraid, for you have another son." But as Rachel's life slipped away, she named the child Ben-Oni—Son of My Sorrow. Jacob, however, called him Benjamin—Son of My Right Hand.
Rachel died there and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and the marker of Rachel's grave remains to this day.
Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-Eder. But while he lived in that region, Reuben, his firstborn, defiled his father's bed by lying with Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. And Israel heard of it.
These are the sons of Jacob:
The sons of Leah—Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
The sons of Rachel—Joseph and Benjamin.
The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant—Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant—Gad and Asher.
These twelve sons were born to Jacob in Paddan Aram.
At last Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-Arba (Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Isaac lived one hundred and eighty years. Then he breathed his last and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him together.