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Genesis 35 Bible study: Back to Bethel

Jacob's household put away their foreign gods and went back to Bethel, where God confirmed the name Israel and the promise: "Be fruitful and multiply… kings will come out of your body." Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin on the way to Bethlehem; she called him son of my sorrow, and Jacob son of the right hand. Now Jacob had twelve sons, and he and Esau buried their father.

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“Let’s arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went.”
Genesis 35:3 · World English Bible

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“Benjamin is the only son Genesis says Jacob named himself.”

Is that in Genesis 35, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

"Put away the foreign gods"

In the text

God tells 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" (35:1). Jacob tells his household, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments", and they give him their gods and earrings, which he hides "under the oak which was by Shechem" (35:2-4). As they travel, "a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn’t pursue the sons of Jacob" (35:5).

Where it leads to Jesus

Rachel weeping for her children

Interpretation

Genesis 35:19leads toMatthew 2:18

Rachel dies after giving birth to Benjamin and is "buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem)" (35:16-19). Jeremiah hears "Rachel weeping for her children" in Ramah (Jeremiah 31:15). After Jesus "was born in Bethlehem of Judea" (Matthew 2:1) and Herod kills "all the male children who were in Bethlehem" (Matthew 2:16), Matthew quotes Jeremiah: "Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more" (Matthew 2:18). Matthew quotes Jeremiah, not Genesis, and doesn't mention Rachel's grave, so reaching back to this chapter is a reading: some hear Rachel, who died in childbirth on the way to Bethlehem, weeping for Bethlehem's children; others read Matthew as quoting Jeremiah alone, whose Rachel weeps in Ramah.

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Genesis 35

That was a taste

The rest of Genesis 35 is waiting in Favor

  • Bethel again
  • Son of my sorrow, son of the right hand
  • Twelve sons, and Isaac's death
  • Foreign gods at Shechem, twice
  • Bethlehem
  • 11 questions as you read
  • 5 more Hebrew words
  • A short check at the end
  • Your notes, saved as you go
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Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Genesis 35 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.

The Hebrew word behind it

בִּנְיָמִיןBinyaminsay bin-ya-MEEN

Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs both give "son of (the) right hand". Rachel, dying, named him Benoni, "son of my sorrow" (Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs, H1126), "but his father named him Benjamin" (35:18). He is the only one of Jacob's sons whose naming Genesis gives to Jacob, and the only one born in Canaan (35:16-19; 48:7); his brothers were born while Jacob served Laban in Paddan Aram (29:31-30:24).

For your group

Genesis 35 Bible study questions

  1. 1Before going up to Bethel, Jacob's household put away their foreign gods. What might you need to put away as you come back to God?
  2. 2Rachel called her son "son of my sorrow"; Jacob called him "son of the right hand." How do grief and hope sit together in your life?
  3. 3Jacob described God as the one "who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went." How would you describe God's part in your story so far?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Genesis 35 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Last reviewed September 25, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home