He called the name of that place Bethel: as both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes show, Bethel means “house of God.” However, translators may prefer to include this meaning in the text as does Bible en français courant, which says “He called this place Bethel, which means House of God.” For Bethel see 12.8.

But the name of the city was Luz at the first: see Judges 1.23. We may translate, for example, “The town there was earlier called Luz.” Good News Translation places this information in parentheses. Translators may do likewise if such marks are known by readers.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .