In preparation for the pilgrimage to Bethel, Jacob’s camp must be purified. He now acts to make certain that his family and other people are purified and have no other gods with them.

Household is literally “his house” and refers to his family.

All who were with him refers to his servants and slaves. Since the massacre of the men in Shechem, these were numerous. In translation it may be desirable to say something like “all the others who were with him” (Anchor Bible), since these people were in addition to the members of Jacob’s family.

Put away the foreign gods that are among you: Put away translates a verb form meaning to “remove,” “dispose of,” “get rid of,” “do away with.” The people do this in verse 4 by handing these objects over to Jacob. Foreign gods probably refers to the images or idols brought with the people from Mesopotamia, or brought into Jacob’s camp after the looting of Shechem. In order to express this thought, it may be necessary to say, for example, “gods that do not belong here.” For a discussion of gods see 31.19.

Purify yourselves is a command that the people wash or bathe themselves to remove any ritual impurity that would prevent them from entering the sacred presence at the shrine. See Exo 19.10, 14, where it even included washing their clothing. In translation we may say, for example, “wash and make yourselves clean.”

Change your garments: see Good News Translation. The command to change should carry the meaning that the clothes to be put on are cleaner than the ones the people will remove. The command is to put on clean clothes. The commands in this verse are given before leaving the camp at Shechem. After a three-day journey with the animals, the clothes obviously will no longer be clean—but they must be clean to join in at the start of the pilgrimage. For people in some cultures the command to put on clean clothes before a journey will seem so strange that the symbolic purpose of this action must be expressed in words: “… clean clothes, as a sign that you have made yourselves clean in the sight of God.”

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 .