Genesis 35:3

35:3 Let us go up at once 1  to Bethel. Then I will make 2  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress 3  and has been with me wherever I went.” 4 

Genesis 35:7

35:7 He built an altar there and named the place El Bethel 5  because there God had revealed himself 6  to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

1 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

2 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

3 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

4 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

5 sn The name El-Bethel means “God of Bethel.”

6 tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.