God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And 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.
- BSB Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
- NKJV Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.”
- NASB Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
- NLT Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother, Esau.”
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
God commands Jacob to go up to Bethel and build an altar there, recalling His earlier appearance to him.
Overview
After the disaster at Shechem, God graciously calls Jacob back to Bethel, the place of his vision while fleeing Esau (Genesis 28). The command to settle and worship there summons Jacob to fulfill the vow he had made years before. God's initiative renews the covenant relationship and redirects Jacob from danger to obedient worship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Gen 31:13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get out from this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”
- Hos 12:4Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,
- Ps 91:15He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
- Gen 31:3Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers, and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
- Gen 35:7He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
- Deut 32:36For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
- Gen 13:3–4He went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
- Gen 28:10–22Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
- Ps 47:4He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
- Eccl 5:4–6When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.
- Gen 27:41–45Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
- Gen 16:8He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant, where did you come from? Where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.”
- Exod 2:15Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
- Gen 12:8He left from there to go to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on Yahweh’s name.
- Gen 22:14Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
- Ps 46:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Nah 1:15Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.
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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 35:1 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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