El-beth-el

El-beth-el is a name Jacob gives, on his return to the place of his earlier vision, marking it as the spot where God had revealed himself when he was in flight from Esau.

Jacob's Naming on His Return

After Jacob comes back to the site of his Bethel encounter, he builds an altar and renames the place: "And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there [the Speech of] God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother" (Ge 35:7). The name memorializes the earlier theophany — the building of the altar and the giving of the name go together — and ties the present return back to the moment of revelation that set Jacob's flight under divine promise.