Kejadian 35:2-3

35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ¹  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ²  35:3 Let us go up at once ³  to Bethel. Then I will make ⁴  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ⁵  and has been with me wherever I went.” ⁶ 

Kejadian 35:14

35:14 So Jacob set up a sacred stone pillar in the place where God spoke with him. ⁷  He poured out a drink offering on it, and then he poured oil on it. ⁸ 

[35:2]  ¹ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

[35:2]  ² sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

[35:3]  ³ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

[35:3]  ⁴ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

[35:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

[35:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and Jacob set up a sacred pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a sacred pillar of stone” (see the notes on the term “sacred stone” in Gen 28:18). This passage stands parallel to Gen 28:18-19, where Jacob set up a sacred stone, poured oil on it, and called the place Bethel. Some commentators see these as two traditions referring to the same event, but it is more likely that Jacob reconsecrated the place in fulfillment of the vow he had made here earlier. In support of this is the fact that the present narrative alludes to and is built on the previous one.

[35:14]  ⁸ tn The verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “to pour out, to make libations,” and the noun נֶסֶךְ (nesekh) is a “drink-offering,” usually of wine or of blood. The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out,” often of anointing oil, but of other elements as well.