Genesis 32-35

Genesis 32

¹Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

²When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

⁴He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.

⁵I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies.

⁸He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”

⁹Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’

¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.

¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.

¹²You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”

¹³He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother:

¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.

¹⁶He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.”

¹⁷He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’

¹⁸Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’”

¹⁹He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.

²⁰You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”

²¹So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

²²He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.

²³He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.

²⁴Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

²⁵When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled.

²⁶The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.

²⁸He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

²⁹Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” So he blessed him there.

³⁰Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

³¹The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.

³²Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

Genesis 33

¹Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants.

²He put the servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

³He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept.

⁵He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the servants came near with their children, and they bowed themselves.

⁷Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

⁸Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” Jacob said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; let that which you have be yours.”

¹⁰Jacob said, “Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me.

¹¹Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” He urged him, and he took it.

¹²Esau said, “Let’s take our journey, and let’s go, and I will go before you.”

¹³Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir.”

¹⁵Esau said, “Let me now leave with you some of the people who are with me.” He said, “Why? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city.

¹⁹He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money.

²⁰He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel.

Genesis 34

¹Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

²Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.

³His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.

⁴Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”

⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.

⁷The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.

⁸Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

⁹Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”

¹¹Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.

¹²Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

¹³The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

¹⁴and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.

¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised,

¹⁶then will we give our daughters to you; and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

¹⁷But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.”

¹⁸Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

¹⁹The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.

²⁰Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,

²¹“These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters to us for wives, and let’s give them our daughters.

²²Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.

²³Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let’s give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”

²⁴All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵On the third day, when they were sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.

²⁶They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

²⁷Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

²⁸They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,

²⁹and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.

³⁰Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

³¹They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”

Genesis 35

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.

¹⁴Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.

¹⁵Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.

¹⁶They traveled from Bethel. There was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed. She had hard labor.

¹⁷When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

¹⁹Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).

²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²²While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant): Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, to Kiriath Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac lived as foreigners.

²⁸The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years.

²⁹Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.