Genesis 35:2

Plain English Version

So Jacob talked to his family, and to all the other people that were in his camp. He said, “We are going to leave this place and go to the place called Bethel. I’m going to make a special table there, so that I can burn animals to show respect to God. You know, God is the one that helped me every time I got trouble, and he stayed with me wherever I went.” Jacob kept on talking to his mob. He said, “Some of you mob have little statues with you, that came from other countries. Some people think that those statues are gods that have power. You mob have to get rid of those statues. Then you all have to wash your bodies and put on clean clothes, because we are going to a special place to show respect to God.”

Cross References

Genesis 18:19

I have picked him out so that he can teach his family to live my way, and do what is good and right. Then I will keep my promise to him.”

Genesis 31:30

Laban kept on talking to Jacob. He said, “Look, I know that you want to see your father again, and that’s the reason why you left. But why did you steal my little statues from my tent?” You see, Laban didn’t know that his daughter Rachel stole those statues. He thought that Jacob stole them.

Genesis 31:34

He looked through everything in her tent, but he didn’t find those statues. You see, Rachel already hid those statues. She put them inside a soft seat, called a saddle, that she used to sit on when she rode her camel. Then she put that saddle on the ground, and she sat on it.

Genesis 35:22

While they were living there, Jacob’s son Reuben went to the woman called Bilhah. Bilhah worked for Jacob’s family, and she was like another wife for Jacob. And Reuben slept with Bilhah, like a man sleeps with his wife. Then somebody told Jacob that Reuben did that bad thing. These are the names of Jacob’s 12 sons.

Acts 19:26

But that man, Paul, he talks to big mobs of people, and he says, ‘Don’t buy those things. Those statues that people say are gods, they are not gods at all. It was people that made them, so don’t show respect to them.’ Lots of people here in Ephesus listened to him, and now even the people from other towns in this Asia country agree with him, and they don’t want to buy the things we make.

1 Corinthians 10:7

Don’t do what some of them did. They showed respect to statues that they thought were gods. God says this in his book, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, to show respect to those statues. Then they stood up to play.”

Galatians 4:8

At first you didn’t know God. Those other bad spirits were your bosses. Those spirits are not gods at all, but you couldn’t get free from them.

James 4:8

But when you trust God, you go close to him, and when you do that, he will come close to you, and he will help you. So you have to stop doing bad things. Don’t even think about doing bad things. Don’t think that maybe you will go the right way, or maybe the wrong way. No, forget the wrong way, and just go the right way.

Jude 1:23

And some people are turning away from God and doing bad things. If they turn away and don’t come back to God, he will punish them in the fire. So you have to try to stop those people from turning away from God. Then you will save them, like you will pull them out of that fire. Some of them do a lot of bad things, and they get a lot of trouble. You have to feel sorry for those people and try to help them. But be careful. Stay away from the bad things that they do. Those bad things are like dirt on their clothes. So be careful to keep away from them, just like you are careful not to touch dirty clothes.

1 Samuel 16:5

Samuel answered, “No, I came happily. I came to burn this young cow with you mob, to give it to God. You have to wash and get ready. You have to be clean in God’s way before we can burn this young cow.” He also told Jesse and his sons to come. And he helped them to get ready.

1 Samuel 7:3

Then Samuel asked them, “Is it true that you mob want to turn back to God? Well, you have to do this. Throw away all those statues made of wood and stone. Throw away those statues of women called Astarti. Those things do not belong to us Israel mob. They are from another place. You mob have to show respect only to God. Turn back to him. Give yourselves only to him. If you do that, he will save you from the Philistia mob.”