Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Genesis 34
²⁹ They looted all their wealth and plundered their houses. They also took all their little children and wives and led them away as captives.
³⁰ Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve made me stink among all the people of this land—among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!”
³¹ “But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.
Genesis 35
¹ 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.”
² So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols, purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing.
³ We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
⁴ So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried them under the great tree near Shechem.
⁵ As they set out, a terror from God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked Jacob’s family.
⁶ Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel) in Canaan.
⁷ Jacob built an altar there and named the place El-bethel (which means “God of Bethel”), because God had appeared to him there when he was fleeing from his brother, Esau.
⁸ Soon after this, Rebekah’s old nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried beneath the oak tree in the valley below Bethel. Ever since, the tree has been called Allon-bacuth (which means “oak of weeping”).