Genèse 35

¹ 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.”

² So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

³ Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴ So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵ As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

⁶ So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan.

⁷ There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother.

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

Note · Genèse 35.1–8

Une maison appelée à changer

Jacob associe la montée à Béthel à une purification de sa maison. Les objets étrangers sont retirés. Le récit donne une forme collective à la réponse de foi, puis marque aussi la mort de Débora. Cette nourrice reçoit une mémoire propre, même si son histoire avait peu occupé le récit jusque-là.

⁹ After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.

¹⁰ And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

¹¹ And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.

¹² The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

¹³ Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴ So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him—a stone marker—and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil.

¹⁵ Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Note · Genèse 35.9–15

Le nom confirmé et la promesse renouvelée

Dieu réaffirme le nom d’Israël et les promesses de fécondité et de pays. Cette confirmation fait suite aux crises plutôt qu’elle ne les nie. Le monument dressé par Jacob répond à la parole reçue ; il ne signifie pas que la présence de Dieu pourrait être possédée par un objet.

¹⁶ Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.

¹⁷ During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

¹⁸ And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

²⁰ Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

²¹ Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder.

²² While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

Note · Genèse 35.16–22

La naissance de Benjamin n’efface pas la mort de Rachel

Le récit unit une naissance et un deuil. Les noms proposés pour l’enfant portent ces regards différents sur l’événement. L’acte de Ruben envers Bilha est ensuite signalé brièvement et sera rappelé en Genèse 49. Le texte ne rapporte pas le consentement de Bilha et ne permet pas de l’imaginer pour atténuer la gravité de la scène.

²³ The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

²⁸ And Isaac lived 180 years.

²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Note · Genèse 35.23–29

Une famille réunie autour d’un mort

La liste des fils reprend les différentes maternités de la maison. Jacob et Ésaü ensevelissent Isaac ensemble. Comme lors de la mort d’Abraham, un geste commun demeure possible entre deux frères dont les routes et les descendances sont distinctes.