Genesis 33–34

Chapter 33

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants: ²and he put the maidservants and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost. ³And he passed on before them, and bowed to the earth seven times, until he came near to his brother. ⁴And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant. ⁶And the maidservants drew near, they and their children, and they bowed. ⁷And Leah also, with her children, drew near, and they bowed. And lastly Joseph drew near, and Rachel, and they bowed. ⁸And he said, What meanest thou by all the drove which I met? And he said, To find favour in the eyes of my lord. ⁹And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let what thou hast be thine. ¹⁰And Jacob said, No, I pray thee; if now I have found favour in thine eyes, then receive my gift from my hand; for therefore have I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou hast received me with pleasure. ¹¹Take, I pray thee, my blessing which has been brought to thee; because God has been gracious to me, and because I have everything. And he urged him, and he took it. ¹²And he said, Let us take our journey, and go on, and I will go before thee. ¹³And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and the suckling sheep and kine are with me; and if they should overdrive them only one day, all the flock would die. ¹⁴Let my lord, I pray thee, pass on before his servant, and I will drive on at my ease according to the pace of the cattle that is before me, and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir. ¹⁵And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the people that are with me. And he said, What need? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.

¹⁶And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his cattle he made booths. Therefore the name of the place was called Succoth. ¹⁸And Jacob came safely to the city Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram; and he encamped before the city. ¹⁹And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread his tent, of the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitahs. ²⁰And there he set up an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

Chapter 34

¹And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. ³And his soul fastened on Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the maiden, and spoke consolingly to the maiden. ⁴And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Take me this girl as wife. ⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his cattle in the fields, and Jacob said nothing until they came.

⁶And Hamor the father of Shechem came out to Jacob, to speak to him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came from the fields when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had wrought what was disgraceful in Israel, in lying with Jacob’s daughter, which thing ought not to be done. ⁸And Hamor spoke to them, saying, My son Shechem’s soul cleaves to your daughter: I pray you, give her to him as wife. ⁹And make marriages with us: give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to you. ¹⁰And dwell with us, and the land shall be before you: dwell and trade in it, and get yourselves possessions in it. ¹¹And Shechem said to her father and to her brethren, Let me find favour in your eyes; and what ye shall say to me I will give. ¹²Impose on me very much as dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say to me; but give me the maiden as wife. ¹³And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and spoke—because he had defiled Dinah their sister— ¹⁴and said to them, We cannot do this, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach to us. ¹⁵But only in this will we consent to you, if ye will be as we, that every male of you be circumcised; ¹⁶then will we give our daughters to you, and take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and be one people. ¹⁷But if ye do not hearken to us, to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter and go away.

¹⁸And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹And the youth did not delay to do this, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter. And he was honourable above all in the house of his father. ²⁰And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade in it. And the land—behold, it is of wide extent before them. We will take their daughters as wives, and give them our daughters. ²²But only in this will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to be one people—if every male among us be circumcised, just as they are circumcised. ²³Their cattle, and their possessions, and every beast of theirs, shall they not be ours? only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. ²⁴And all that went out at the gate of his city hearkened to Hamor and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised—all that went out at the gate of his city.

²⁵And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. ²⁶And Hamor and Shechem his son they slew with the edge of the sword; and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house; and went out. ²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸Their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and what was in the city, and what was in the field they took; ²⁹and all their goods, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and plundered them, and all that was in the houses. ³⁰And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, in that ye make me odious among the inhabitants of the land—among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I am few men in number, and they will gather themselves against me and smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. ³¹And they said, Should people deal with our sister as with a harlot?