Genesis 35:7
And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ædificavitque ibi altare, et appellavit nomen loci illius, Domus Dei : ibi enim apparuit ei Deus cum fugeret fratrem suum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐκεῖ θυσιαστήριον, καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τόπου Βαιθήλ· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἐπεφάνη αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἀποδιδράσκειν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ προσώπου Ἠσαὺ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּ֤בֶן שָׁם֙ מִזְבֵּ֔חַ וַיִּקְרָא֙ לַמָּק֔וֹם אֵ֖ל בֵּֽית אֵ֑ל כִּ֣י שָׁ֗ם נִגְל֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים בְּבָרְח֖וֹ מִפְּנֵ֥י אָחִֽיו
Haydock's commentary
To him. Hebrew literally, "He called that place the God of Bethel, because there God (or the angels) appeared to him." Haelohim, with a verb plural, generally refers to angels; when it is applied to God, the article is omitted, and the verb is singular. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LVIII. The same is proved
And I continued: “It is again written by Moses, my brethren, that He who is called God and appeared to the patriarchs is called both Angel and Lord, in order that from this you may understand Him to be minister to the Father of all things, as you have already admitted, and may remain firm, persuaded by additional arguments. The word of God, therefore, [recorded] by Moses, when referring to Jacob the grandson of Abraham, speaks thus: ‘And it came to pass, when the sheep conceived, that I saw them with my eyes in the dream: And, behold, the he-goats and the rams which leaped upon the sheep and she-goats were spotted with white, and speckled and sprinkled with a dun colour. And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, Jacob. …
St Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LX. Opinions of the Jews
And I replied, “Now assuredly, Trypho, I shall show that, in the vision of Moses, this same One alone who is called an Angel, and who is God, appeared to and communed with Moses. For the Scripture says thus: ‘The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the bush; and he sees that the bush burns with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight, for the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he is turning aside to behold, the Lord called to him out of the bush.’ In the same manner, therefore, in which the Scripture calls Him who appeared to Jacob in the dream an Angel, then [says] that the same Angel who appeared in the dream spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God that appeared to thee when thou didst flee from the face of Esau thy brother;’ and [again] says that, in the judgment which befell Sodom in the days of Abra …