Genesis 34–35

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?

Chapter 35

¹And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar unto the •God that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. ²And Jacob said to his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; ³and we will arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the •God that answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. ⁴And they gave to Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that is by Shechem. ⁵And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

⁶And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. ⁷And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God had appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. ⁸And Deborah, Rebecca’s nurse, died; and she was buried beneath Bethel, under the oak; and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. ⁹And God appeared to Jacob again after he had come from Padan-Aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, I am the Almighty •God: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee; and kings shall come out of thy loins. ¹²And the land that I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. ¹³And God went up from him in the place where he had talked with him. ¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had talked with him, a pillar of stone, and poured on it a drink-offering, and poured oil on it. ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God had talked with him, Beth-el.

¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath, when Rachel travailed in childbirth; and it went hard with her in her childbearing. ¹⁷And it came to pass when it went hard with her in her childbearing, that the midwife said to her, Fear not; for this also is a son for thee. ¹⁸And it came to pass as her soul was departing—for she died—that she called his name Benoni; but his father called him Benjamin. ¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. ²⁰And Jacob erected a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent on the other side of Migdal-Eder. ²²And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Leah: Reuben—Jacob’s firstborn—and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maidservant: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob that were born to him in Padan-Aram. ²⁷And Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre—to Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron; where Abraham had sojourned, and Isaac. ²⁸And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.