Genesis 35
Jacob Returns to Beth-el
After the killing at Shechem, God tells Jacob to go back to Beth-el, and he first clears his household of its foreign gods. There God confirms the name Israel and the covenant of Abraham. On the road Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin, Reuben sins against his father, and Isaac dies.
Start reading Background
Jacob has come home to Canaan after twenty years with Laban (Gen. 31:41). Near Shechem he bought a field and built an altar (Gen. 33:18–20). Then his daughter Dinah was assaulted (Gen. 34:2), and Simeon and Levi killed the men of the city; Jacob told them, “I shall be destroyed, I and my house” (Gen. 34:25–31). Genesis 35 is the way out. God tells him to go back to Beth-el, where, as a fugitive, he had vowed that if God brought him home in peace, “then shall the LORD be my God” (Gen. 28:20–22).
The chapter has five parts: the call to Beth-el and the cleansing of the household (verses 1–5); the altar, Deborah’s burial, and God’s second appearance at Beth-el (6–15); Rachel’s death in childbirth (16–20); Reuben’s sin and the list of the twelve sons (21–26); and Isaac’s death (27–29).
Jacob himself looks back on this chapter at the end of his life. He tells Joseph that God Almighty appeared to him at Luz, and that “Rachel died by me” on the way to Ephrath (Gen. 48:3–7). Reuben’s act in verse 22 is answered in Jacob’s last blessing (Gen. 49:3–4) and explained in 1 Chr. 5:1–2.
The thread through the chapter
Genesis 35 is about a vow kept and a family completed. In the first half Jacob goes back to Beth-el to do what he promised there as a fugitive (Gen. 28:20–22). He has the household’s foreign gods put away, builds the altar, and is given the covenant of Abraham in the order and nearly the words in which Abraham received it (see the note on verse 11). In the second half the promise of “a nation and a company of nations” (verse 11) begins to be fulfilled, and each step comes with a loss. The twelfth son is born as Rachel dies. The twelve sons are counted in the same breath as the sin of the eldest. And the story of Isaac ends with his burial.
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.
Go up to Beth-el
God told Jacob, “Go up to Beth-el and stay there, and build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” Jacob said to his household and everyone with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. Let us go up to Beth-el, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me when I was in distress and was with me wherever I went.” They gave Jacob all their foreign gods and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem. When they set out, a terror from God fell on the cities around them, and no one chased Jacob’s sons.
1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
The altar and Deborah’s grave
Jacob and all his people came to Luz, that is, Beth-el, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named the place El-beth-el, “God of Beth-el,” because God had appeared to him there when he was running from his brother. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Beth-el under an oak, which was named Allon-bachuth, “oak of weeping.”
6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him.
7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
8 But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.
God appears again
On his return from Padan-aram, God appeared to Jacob again and blessed him. God said, “Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be called Jacob. Israel will be your name,” and so He called him Israel. God said, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, even a company of nations, will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your descendants after you.” Then God went up from him. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had spoken with him, poured a drink offering and oil on it, and called the place Beth-el.
9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.
10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.
Rachel dies at Ephrath
They left Beth-el, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and the birth was hard. The midwife said, “Do not be afraid; you have another son.” As she was dying she named him Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow,” but his father called him Benjamin, “son of the right hand.” Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. Jacob set up a pillar over her grave, and it is still called the pillar of Rachel’s grave.
16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.
19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.
20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.
Reuben, and the twelve sons
Israel moved on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While he lived in that region, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Jacob had twelve sons. Leah’s sons: Reuben, the firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Rachel’s: Joseph and Benjamin. Bilhah’s, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali. Zilpah’s, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons born to Jacob in Padan-aram.
21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:
24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:
25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram.
Isaac’s death
Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, by the city of Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived as strangers. Isaac lived 180 years. He died, old and full of years, and was gathered to his people, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Seeing Christ in Genesis 35
Rachel’s grave ties the chapter to the place of Christ’s birth. She is buried “in the way to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem” (verse 19), and Bethlehem-Judah, “also called Ephrath,” is “Christ’s birthplace.” Micah later says that out of “Beth-lehem Ephratah” will come “he… that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). When Herod killed the children of Bethlehem, Matthew heard Jeremiah’s “Rachel weeping for her children” (Matt. 2:16–18); he “quotes the passage in his description of the mourning at Bethlehem (where Rachel’s grave was).”
The promise given at Beth-el reaches Him by way of Judah. God tells Jacob that “kings shall come out of thy loins” (verse 11), and among the promises of the covenant renewed with him is “that (1) Christ would come through his lineage.” With Reuben passed over (verse 22), and Simeon and Levi after him, Judah becomes “something of an ‘honorary’ firstborn,” and Jacob’s blessing says, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah… until Shiloh come” (Gen. 49:10). That name “has been regarded by many biblical scholars as a prophecy of the coming of Messiah,” an interpretation “confirmed by JST Gen. 50:24.”
Worth exploring next
- Jacob looks back. Gen. 48:3–7: Luz, God Almighty, and Rachel’s grave in one speech.
- The first Beth-el. Gen. 28:10–22, read beside verses 1–15.
- Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah in Jacob’s last blessing. Gen. 49:3–10; 1 Chr. 5:1–2. KnoWhy #843, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?” (Scripture Central), reads Jacob’s blessings of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah together.
- Foreign gods put away at Shechem. Josh. 24:14–26.
- Rachel’s weeping, and the Lord’s answer. Jer. 31:15–17.
Sources & further reading
- The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Westminster Leningrad Codex, with morphology, Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB), openscriptures/morphhb.
- The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
- Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Genesis, Read on Bible Hub.
- Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis in the Revised Version, Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge: University Press, 1921); read on Bible Hub.
- Camille Fronk Olson, “The Matriarchs: Administrators of God’s Covenantal Blessings”, In From Creation to Sinai: The Old Testament through the Lens of the Restoration, ed. Daniel L. Belnap and Aaron P. Schade (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 385–425.
- Jamie J. Huston, “The Integration of Temples and Families: A Latter-day Saint Structure for the Jacob Cycle”, Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 13 (2015): 131–167.
- Genesis 24–36: The Covenant Line Continues with Isaac and Jacob, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).
- “Abraham, covenant of”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Israel”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Bethlehem”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Reuben”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Genesis”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Rachel”, Bible Dictionary.
- “Shiloh”, Bible Dictionary.
- Scripture Central, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?”, KnoWhy #843, Mar. 10, 2026.