God Blesses Jacob at Bethel

¹God said to Jacob, “Go to Bethel at once, and live there. Build an altar there to me, the God who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that you have; purify yourselves and put on clean clothes.

³We are going to leave here and go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who helped me in the time of my trouble and who has been with me everywhere I have gone.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and also the earrings that they were wearing. He buried them beneath the oak tree near Shechem.

⁵When Jacob and his sons started to leave, great fear fell on the people of the nearby towns, and they did not pursue them.

⁶Jacob came with all his people to Luz, which is now known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan.

⁷He built an altar there and named the place for the God of Bethel, because God had revealed himself to him there when he was running away from his brother.

⁸Rebecca's nurse Deborah died and was buried beneath the oak south of Bethel. So it was named “Oak of Weeping.”

⁹When Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him.

¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but from now on it will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

¹¹And God said to him, “I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you, and you will be the ancestor of kings.

¹²I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, and I will also give it to your descendants after you.”

¹³Then God left him.

¹⁴There, where God had spoken to him, Jacob set up a memorial stone and consecrated it by pouring wine and olive oil on it.

¹⁵He named the place Bethel.

The Death of Rachel

¹⁶Jacob and his family left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, the time came for Rachel to have her baby, and she was having difficult labor.

¹⁷When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, “Don't be afraid, Rachel; it's another boy.”

¹⁸But she was dying, and as she breathed her last, she named her son Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

¹⁹When Rachel died, she was buried beside the road to Ephrath, now known as Bethlehem.

²⁰Jacob set up a memorial stone there, and it still marks Rachel's grave to this day.

²¹Jacob moved on and set up his camp on the other side of the tower of Eder.

The Sons of Jacob

²²While Jacob was living in that land, Reuben had sexual intercourse with Bilhah, one of his father's concubines; Jacob heard about it and was furious. Jacob had twelve sons.

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob's oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Rachel's slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These sons were born in Mesopotamia.

The Death of Isaac

²⁷Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived.

²⁸Isaac lived to be a hundred and eighty years old

²⁹and died at a ripe old age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

The Descendants of Esau

¹These are the descendants of Esau, also called Edom.

²Esau married Canaanite women: Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah son of Zibeon the Hivite;

³and Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah bore Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel;

⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. All these sons were born to Esau in the land of Canaan.

⁶Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the people of his house, along with all his livestock and all the possessions he had gotten in the land of Canaan, and went away from his brother Jacob to another land.

⁷He left because the land where he and Jacob were living was not able to support them; they had too much livestock and could no longer stay together.

⁸So Esau lived in the hill country of Edom.

⁹These are the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites.

^10-13Esau's wife Adah bore him one son, Eliphaz, and Eliphaz had five sons: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. And by another wife, Timna, he had one more son, Amalek. Esau's wife Basemath bore him one son, Reuel, and Reuel had four sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

¹⁴Esau's wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah son of Zibeon, bore him three sons: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These are the tribes descended from Esau. Esau's first son Eliphaz was the ancestor of the following tribes: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,

¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were all descendants of Esau's wife Adah.

¹⁷Esau's son Reuel was the ancestor of the following tribes: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were all descendants of Esau's wife Basemath.

¹⁸The following tribes were descended from Esau by his wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁹All these tribes were descended from Esau.

The Descendants of Seir

^20-21The original inhabitants of the land of Edom were divided into tribes which traced their ancestry to the following descendants of Seir, a Horite: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

²²Lotan was the ancestor of the clans of Hori and Heman. (Lotan had a sister named Timna.)

²³Shobal was the ancestor of the clans of Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴Zibeon had two sons, Aiah and Anah. (This is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was taking care of his father's donkeys.)

^25-26Anah was the father of Dishon, who was the ancestor of the clans of Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. Anah also had a daughter named Oholibamah.

²⁷Ezer was the ancestor of the clans of Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸Dishan was the ancestor of the clans of Uz and Aran.

^29-30These are the Horite tribes in the land of Edom: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.

The Kings of Edom

^31-39Before there were any kings in Israel, the following kings ruled the land of Edom in succession: Bela son of Beor from Dinhabah Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah Husham from the region of Teman Hadad son of Bedad from Avith (he defeated the Midianites in a battle in the country of Moab) Samlah from Masrekah Shaul from Rehoboth-on-the-River Baal Hanan son of Achbor Hadad from Pau (his wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred and granddaughter of Mezahab)

^40-43Esau was the ancestor of the following Edomite tribes: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel, and Iram. The area where each of these tribes lived was known by the name of the tribe.

^1-2God is powerful; all must stand in awe of him; he keeps his heavenly kingdom in peace.

³Can anyone count the angels who serve him? Is there any place where God's light does not shine?

⁴Can anyone be righteous or pure in God's sight?

⁵In his eyes even the moon is not bright, or the stars pure.

⁶Then what about a human being, that worm, that insect? What is a human life worth in God's eyes?

^1-2What a big help you are to me— poor, weak man that I am!

³You give such good advice and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

⁴Who do you think will hear all your words? Who inspired you to speak like this?

[Bildad]

⁵The spirits of the dead tremble in the waters under the earth.

⁶The world of the dead lies open to God; no covering shields it from his sight.

⁷God stretched out the northern sky and hung the earth in empty space.

⁸It is God who fills the clouds with water and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

⁹He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

¹⁰He divided light from darkness by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

¹¹When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky, they shake and tremble with fear.

¹²It is his strength that conquered the sea; by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.

¹³It is his breath that made the sky clear, and his hand that killed the escaping monster.

¹⁴But these are only hints of his power, only the whispers that we have heard. Who can know how truly great God is?

¹⁹The Lord created the earth by his wisdom; by his knowledge he set the sky in place.

²⁰His wisdom caused the rivers to flow and the clouds to give rain to the earth.

²¹My child, hold on to your wisdom and insight. Never let them get away from you.

²²They will provide you with life—a pleasant and happy life.

²³You can go safely on your way and never even stumble.

²⁴You will not be afraid when you go to bed, and you will sleep soundly through the night.