Genesis 35:1-29

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ¹  to Bethel ²  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ³  35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ⁴  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ⁵  35:3 Let us go up at once ⁶  to Bethel. Then I will make ⁷  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ⁸  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁹ 

35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession ¹⁰  and the rings that were in their ears. ¹¹  Jacob buried them ¹²  under the oak ¹³  near Shechem 35:5 and they started on their journey. ¹⁴  The surrounding cities were afraid of God, ¹⁵  and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

35:6 Jacob and all those who were with him arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel) ¹⁶  in the land of Canaan. ¹⁷  35:7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel ¹⁸  because there God had revealed himself ¹⁹  to him when he was fleeing from his brother. 35:8 (Deborah, ²⁰  Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel; thus it was named ²¹  Oak of Weeping.) ²² 

35:9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him. 35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob; Israel will be your name.” So God named him Israel. ²³  35:11 Then God said to him, “I am the sovereign God. ²⁴  Be fruitful and multiply! A nation – even a company of nations – will descend from you; kings will be among your descendants! ²⁵  35:12 The land I gave ²⁶  to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. To your descendants ²⁷  I will also give this land.” 35:13 Then God went up from the place ²⁸  where he spoke with him. 35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. ²⁹  He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. ³⁰  35:15 Jacob named the place ³¹  where God spoke with him Bethel. ³² 

35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ³³  Rachel went into labor ³⁴  – and her labor was hard. 35:17 When her labor was at its hardest, ³⁵  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ³⁶  35:18 With her dying breath, ³⁷  she named him Ben-Oni. ³⁸  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ³⁹  35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ⁴⁰  35:20 Jacob set up a marker ⁴¹  over her grave; it is ⁴²  the Marker of Rachel’s Grave to this day.

35:21 Then Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ⁴³  35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ⁴⁴  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

35:23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, as well as Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

35:25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

35:26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

35:27 So Jacob came back to his father Isaac in Mamre, ⁴⁵  to Kiriath Arba ⁴⁶  (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ⁴⁷  35:28 Isaac lived to be 180 years old. ⁴⁸  35:29 Then Isaac breathed his last and joined his ancestors. ⁴⁹  He died an old man who had lived a full life. ⁵⁰  His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 11:3

11:3 Then they said to one another, ⁵¹  “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” ⁵²  (They had brick instead of stone and tar ⁵³  instead of mortar.) ⁵⁴ 

Genesis 11:7-10

11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse ⁵⁵  their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” ⁵⁶ 

11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building ⁵⁷  the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called ⁵⁸  Babel ⁵⁹  – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

The Genealogy of Shem

11:10 This is the account of Shem.

Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

Ephesians 5:22-24

Exhortations to Households

5:22 ⁶⁰ Wives, submit ⁶¹  to your husbands as to the Lord, 5:23 because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. 5:24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Ephesians 5:33

5:33 Nevertheless, ⁶²  each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, ⁶³  and the wife must ⁶⁴  respect ⁶⁵  her husband.

Colossians 3:18

Exhortation to Households

3:18 Wives, submit to your ⁶⁶  husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Titus 2:5

2:5 to be self-controlled, ⁶⁷  pure, fulfilling their duties at home, ⁶⁸  kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message ⁶⁹  of God may not be discredited. ⁷⁰ 

Titus 2:1

Conduct Consistent with Sound Teaching

2:1 But as for you, communicate the behavior that goes with ⁷¹  sound teaching.

Titus 3:1-6

Conduct Toward Those Outside the Church

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and ⁷²  authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work. 3:2 They must not slander ⁷³  anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people. 3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. 3:4 ⁷⁴  But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 3:5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure ⁷⁵  through Jesus Christ our Savior.

[35:1]  ¹ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ³ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[35:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

[35:2]  ⁵ sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

[35:3]  ⁷ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

[35:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

[35:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

[35:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in their hand.”

[35:4]  ¹¹ sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).

[35:4]  ¹² sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.

[35:4]  ¹³ tn Or “terebinth.”

[35:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they journeyed.”

[35:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.” The expression “fear of God” apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean “fear from God,” that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to “tremendous fear” (cf. NEB “were panic-stricken”; NASB “a great terror”).

[35:6]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan – it is Bethel – he and all the people who were with him.”

[35:7]  ¹⁸ sn The name El-Bethel means “God of Bethel.”

[35:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.

[35:8]  ²⁰ sn Deborah. This woman had been Rebekah’s nurse, but later attached herself to Jacob. She must have been about one hundred and eighty years old when she died.

[35:8]  ²¹ tn “and he called its name.” There is no expressed subject, so the verb can be translated as passive.

[35:8]  ²² tn Or “Allon Bacuth,” if one transliterates the Hebrew name (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). An oak tree was revered in the ancient world and often designated as a shrine or landmark. This one was named for the weeping (mourning) occasioned by the death of Deborah.

[35:10]  ²³ tn Heb “and he called his name Israel.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[35:11]  ²⁴ tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. For a fuller discussion see the note on “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[35:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “A nation and a company of nations will be from you and kings from your loins will come out.”

[35:12]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb translated “gave” refers to the Abrahamic promise of the land. However, the actual possession of that land lay in the future. The decree of the Lord made it certain; but it has the sense “promised to give.”

[35:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and to your offspring after you.”

[35:13]  ²⁸ tn Heb “went up from upon him in the place.”

[35:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and Jacob set up a sacred pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a sacred pillar of stone” (see the notes on the term “sacred stone” in Gen 28:18). This passage stands parallel to Gen 28:18-19, where Jacob set up a sacred stone, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel. Some commentators see these as two traditions referring to the same event, but it is more likely that Jacob reconsecrated the place in fulfillment of the vow he had made here earlier. In support of this is the fact that the present narrative alludes to and is built on the previous one.

[35:14]  ³⁰ tn The verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “to pour out, to make libations,” and the noun נֶסֶךְ (nesekh) is a “drink-offering,” usually of wine or of blood. The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out,” often of anointing oil, but of other elements as well.

[35:15]  ³¹ sn Called the name of the place. In view of the previous naming of Bethel in Gen 28:19, here Jacob was confirming or affirming the name through an official ritual marking the fulfillment of the vow. This place now did become Bethel, the house of God.

[35:15]  ³² tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew.

[35:16]  ³³ tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”

[35:16]  ³⁴ tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”

[35:17]  ³⁵ tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).

[35:17]  ³⁶ sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.

[35:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ³⁸ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ³⁹ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[35:19]  ⁴⁰ sn This explanatory note links the earlier name Ephrath with the later name Bethlehem.

[35:20]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “standing stone.”

[35:20]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps “it is known as” (cf. NEB).

[35:21]  ⁴³ sn The location of Migdal Eder is not given. It appears to be somewhere between Bethlehem and Hebron. Various traditions have identified it as at the shepherds’ fields near Bethlehem (the Hebrew name Migdal Eder means “tower of the flock”; see Mic 4:8) or located it near Solomon’s pools.

[35:22]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.

[35:27]  ⁴⁵ tn This is an adverbial accusative of location.

[35:27]  ⁴⁶ tn The name “Kiriath Arba” is in apposition to the preceding name, “Mamre.”

[35:27]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” refers to temporary settlement without ownership rights.

[35:28]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “And the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.”

[35:29]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and Isaac expired and died and he was gathered to his people.” In the ancient Israelite view he joined his deceased ancestors in Sheol, the land of the dead.

[35:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “old and full of years.”

[11:3]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.” The Hebrew idiom may be translated “to each other” or “one to another.”

[11:3]  ⁵² tn The speech contains two cohortatives of exhortation followed by their respective cognate accusatives: “let us brick bricks” (נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים, nilbbÿnah lÿvenim) and “burn for burning” (נִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה, nisrÿfah lisrefah). This stresses the intensity of the undertaking; it also reflects the Akkadian text which uses similar constructions (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 75-76).

[11:3]  ⁵³ tn Or “bitumen” (cf. NEB, NRSV).

[11:3]  ⁵⁴ tn The disjunctive clause gives information parenthetical to the narrative.

[11:7]  ⁵⁵ tn The cohortatives mirror the cohortatives of the people. They build to ascend the heavens; God comes down to destroy their language. God speaks here to his angelic assembly. See the notes on the word “make” in 1:26 and “know” in 3:5, as well as Jub. 10:22-23, where an angel recounts this incident and says “And the Lord our God said to us…. And the Lord went down and we went down with him. And we saw the city and the tower which the sons of men built.” On the chiastic structure of the story, see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:235.

[11:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “they will not hear, a man the lip of his neighbor.”

[11:8]  ⁵⁷ tn The infinitive construct לִבְנֹת (livnot, “building”) here serves as the object of the verb “they ceased, stopped,” answering the question of what they stopped doing.

[11:9]  ⁵⁸ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so can be rendered as a passive in the translation.

[11:9]  ⁵⁹ sn Babel. Here is the climax of the account, a parody on the pride of Babylon. In the Babylonian literature the name bab-ili meant “the gate of God,” but in Hebrew it sounds like the word for “confusion,” and so retained that connotation. The name “Babel” (בָּבֶל, bavel) and the verb translated “confused” (בָּלַל, balal) form a paronomasia (sound play). For the many wordplays and other rhetorical devices in Genesis, see J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis (SSN).

[5:22]  ⁶⁰ tn Many scholars regard Eph 5:21 as the verse which introduces this section, rather than 5:22. This is due in part to the lack of a main verb in this verse (see tc note which follows). This connection is not likely, however, because it requires the participle ὑποτασσόμενοι (Jupotassomenoi, “submitting”) in 5:21 to act as the main verb of the section, and this participle more likely is linked to the command “be filled by the Spirit” in 5:18 as a participle of result (see sn above). In any case, 5:21 does form a strong link between 5:18-21 and what follows, so the paragraph division which has been placed between 5:21 and 22 should not be viewed as a complete break in the author’s thought.

[5:22]  ⁶¹ tc The witnesses for the shorter reading (in which the verb “submit” is only implied) are minimal (Ì⁴⁶ B Cl Hier^mss), but significant and early. The rest of the witnesses add one of two verb forms as required by the sense of the passage (picking up the verb from v. 21). Several of these witnesses have ὑποτασσέσθωσαν (Jupotassesqwsan), the third person imperative (so א A I P Ψ 0278 33 81 1175 1739 1881 al lat co), while other witnesses, especially the later Byzantine cursives, read ὑποτάσσεσθε (Jupotassesqe), the second person imperative (D F G Ï sy). The text virtually begs for one of these two verb forms, but the often cryptic style of Paul’s letters argues for the shorter reading. The chronology of development seems to have been no verb – third person imperative – second person imperative. It is not insignificant that early lectionaries began a new day’s reading with v. 22; these most likely caused copyists to add the verb at this juncture.

[5:33]  ⁶² tn The translation of πλήν (plhn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).

[5:33]  ⁶³ tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.

[5:33]  ⁶⁴ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”

[5:33]  ⁶⁵ tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (fobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (fobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.

[3:18]  ⁶⁶ tn The article τοῖς (tois) with ἀνδράσιν (andrasin, “husbands”) has been translated as a possessive pronoun (“your”); see ExSyn 215.

[2:5]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “sensible.”

[2:5]  ⁶⁸ tn Grk “domestic,” “keeping house.”

[2:5]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “word.”

[2:5]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “slandered.”

[2:1]  ⁷¹ tn Grk “say what is fitting for sound teaching” (introducing the behavior called for in this chapter.).

[3:1]  ⁷² tc Most later witnesses (D² 0278 Ï lat sy) have καί (kai, “and”) after ἀρχαῖς (arcai", “rulers”), though the earliest and best witnesses (א A C D* F G Ψ 33 104 1739 1881) lack the conjunction. Although the καί is most likely not authentic, it has been added in translation due to the requirements of English style. For more discussion, see TCGNT 586.

[3:2]  ⁷³ tn Or “discredit,” “damage the reputation of.”

[3:4]  ⁷⁴ tn Verses 4-7 are set as poetry in NA²⁶/NA²⁷. These verses probably constitute the referent of the expression “this saying” in v. 8.

[3:6]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “on us richly.”