¹ And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.

² Then Jacob said to all his people, Put away the strange gods which are among you, and make yourselves clean, and Put on a change of clothing:

³ And let us go up to Beth-el: and there I will make an altar to God, who gave me an answer in the day of my trouble, and was with me wherever I went.

⁴ Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.

⁵ So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.

⁶ And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (which is the same as Beth-el), he and all his people.

⁷ And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.

⁸ And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.

⁹ Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,

¹⁰ Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.

¹¹ And God said to him, I am God, the Ruler of all: be fertile, and have increase; a nation, truly a group of nations, will come from you, and kings will be your offspring;

¹² And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you; and to your seed after you I will give the land.

¹³ Then God went up from him in the place where he had been talking with him.

¹⁴ And Jacob put up a pillar in the place where he had been talking with God, and put a drink offering on it, and oil.

¹⁵ And he gave to the place where God had been talking with him, the name of Beth-el.

¹⁶ So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.

¹⁷ And when her pain was very great, the woman who was helping her said, Have no fear; for now you will have another son.

¹⁸ And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.

¹⁹ So Rachel came to her end and was put to rest on the road to Ephrath (which is Beth-lehem).

²⁰ And Jacob put up a pillar on her resting-place; which is named, The Pillar of the resting-place of Rachel, to this day.

²¹ And Israel went journeying on and put up his tents on the other side of the tower of the flock.

²² Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman: and Israel had news of it.

²³ Now Jacob had twelve sons: the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first son, and Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵ The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali;

²⁶ The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher; these are the sons whom Jacob had in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had been living.

²⁸ And Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old.

²⁹ Then Isaac came to his end and was put to rest with his father's people, an old man after a long life: and Jacob and Esau, his sons, put him in his last resting-place.

¹ Now after these things, word came to Joseph that his father was ill: and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim.

² And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed.

³ And Jacob said to Joseph, God, the Ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing,

⁴ And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever.

⁵ And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are.

⁶ And any other offspring which you have after them, will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage.

⁷ And as for me, when I came from Paddan, death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath; and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.

⁸ Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these?

⁹ And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing.

¹⁰ Now because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms.

¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again, but God in his mercy has let me see you and your children.

¹² Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth.

¹³ Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him.

¹⁴ And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older.

¹⁵ And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day,

¹⁶ The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth.

¹⁷ Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head.

¹⁹ But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations.

²⁰ So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near; but God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers.

²² And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.