And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
Parallel translations
- WEB He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
- BSB and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.
- NKJV And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.
- NASB Then he named that place Bethel; but previously the name of the city had been Luz.
- NLT He named that place Bethel (which means “house of God”), although it was previously called Luz.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jacob names the place Bethel, meaning "house of God," though the city had been called Luz.
Overview
By naming the place Bethel, Jacob enshrines his encounter with God in the very name of the location. The renaming signals that this site now belongs to God's redemptive story rather than its pagan past. Bethel will reappear repeatedly in Israel's history as a place associated with worship and with God's dealings with his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 48:3And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
- Gen 35:1And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
- Hos 12:4–5Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
- Judg 1:22–26And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was with them.
- Hos 4:15Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.
- Gen 12:8And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
- 1 Kgs 12:29And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 28:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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