Chapter 33

Jacob Meets Esau

1 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, aEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children 1among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.

2 He put the maids and their children 1in front, and Leah and her children 2next, and Rachel and Joseph 2last.

3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and abowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

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

5 He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “1Who are these with you?” So he said, “aThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

6 Then the maids came near 1with their children, and they bowed down.

7 Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

8 And he said, “What do you mean by aall this company which I have met?” And he said, “bTo find favor in the sight of my lord.”

9 But Esau said, “aI have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”

10 Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, 1for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

11 “Please take my 1agift which has been brought to you, bbecause God has dealt graciously with me and because I have 2plenty.” Thus he urged him and he took it.

12 Then 1Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.”

13 But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are 1a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.

14 “Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at aSeir.”

15 Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “1What need is there? aLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

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

17 Jacob journeyed to 1aSuccoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

18 Now Jacob came safely to the city of aShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from bPaddan-aram, and camped before the city.

19 aHe bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred 1pieces of money.

20 Then he erected there an altar and called it 1El-Elohe-Israel.

Chapter 34

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

1 Now aDinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to 1visit the daughters of the land.

2 When Shechem the son of Hamor athe Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her 1by force.

3 1He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and 2spoke tenderly to her.

4 So Shechem aspoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.”

5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in.

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

7 Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a 1adisgraceful thing in Israel 2by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him 1in marriage.

9 “Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

10 “Thus you shall 1live with us, and athe land shall be open before you; 1live and btrade in it and cacquire property in it.”

11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.

12 “Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl 1in marriage.”

13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to aone who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

15 “Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised,

16 then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will 1live with you and become one people.

17 “But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

18 Now their words seemed 1reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

19 The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.

20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the agate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,

21 “These men are 1friendly with us; therefore let them 2live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is 3large enough for them. Let us take their daughters 4in marriage, and give our daughters to them.

22 “Only on this condition will the men consent to us to 1live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.

23 “Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will 1live with us.”

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

25 Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, aSimeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male.

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

27 Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.

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

29 and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even all that was in the houses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have abrought trouble on me by bmaking me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among cthe Canaanites and the Perizzites; and 1dmy men being few in number, they will gather together against me and 2attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”

31 But they said, “Should he 1treat our sister as a harlot?”

Chapter 35

Jacob Moves to Bethel

1 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to aBethel and 1live there, and make an altar there to bGod, who appeared to you cwhen you fled 2from your brother Esau.”

2 So Jacob said to his ahousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away bthe foreign gods which are among you, and cpurify yourselves and change your garments;

3 and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make aan altar there to God, bwho answered me in the day of my distress and chas been with me 1wherever I have gone.”

4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which 1they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the 2oak which was near Shechem.

5 As they journeyed, there was 1aa great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to aLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

7 aHe built an altar there, and called the place 1El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled 2from his brother.

8 Now aDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named 1Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

9 Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ablessed him.

10 aGod said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;

1You shall no longer be called Jacob,

But Israel shall be your name.”

Thus He called 2him Israel.

11 God also said to him,

“I am 1aGod Almighty;

bBe fruitful and multiply;

A nation and a ccompany of nations shall 2come from you,

And dkings shall 2come forth from 3you.

12 “aThe land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,

I will give it to you,

And I will give the land to your 1descendants after you.”

13 Then aGod went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

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

15 So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, 1aBethel.

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to aEphrath, Rachel began to give birth and she 1suffered severe labor.

17 When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now ayou have another son.”

18 It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him 1Ben-oni; but his father called him 2Benjamin.

19 So aRachel died and was buried on the way to bEphrath (that is, Bethlehem).

20 Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the apillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

21 Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the 1atower of 2Eder.

22 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that aReuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

The Sons of Israel

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

23 athe sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

24 athe sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

25 and athe sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

26 and athe sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at aMamre of bKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

28 Now the days of Isaac were aone hundred and eighty years.

29 Isaac breathed his last and died and was agathered to his people, an bold man 1of ripe age; and chis sons Esau and Jacob buried him.