Genesis 28:17

¹⁵but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

¹God said to 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.”

²Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. ³Let’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.”

⁴They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. ⁵They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn’t pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. ⁸Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.

⁹God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name shall not be Jacob any more, but your name will be Israel.” He named him Israel. ¹¹God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. ¹²The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your offspring after you I will give the land.”

¹³God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.

⁶Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

¹Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.

¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the LORD’s glory filled God’s house.

²²Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

²²then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

⁹Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

¹⁷For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,