²And when Sichem the son of Hemor the Hevite, the prince of that land, saw her, he was in love with her: and took her away, and lay with her, ravishing the virgin.

³And his soul was fast knit unto her; and whereas she was sad, he comforted her with sweet words.

⁴And going to Hemor his father, he said: Get me this damsel to wife.

⁵But when Jacob had heard this, his sons being absent, and employed in feeding the cattle, he held his peace till they came back.

⁶And when Hemor the father of Sichem was come out to speak to Jacob,

⁷Behold his sons came from the field: and hearing what had passed, they were exceeding angry, because he had done a foul thing in Israel, and committed an unlawful act, in ravishing Jacob’s daughter.

⁸And Hemor spoke to them: The soul of my son Sichem has a longing for your daughter: give her him to wife:

⁹And let us contract marriages one with another: give us your daughters, and take you our daughters.

¹⁰And dwell with us: the land is at your command, till, trade, and possess it.

¹¹Sichem also said to her father and to her brethren: Let me find favour in your sight, and whatsoever you shall appoint I will give:

¹²Raise the dowry, and ask gifts, and I will gladly give what you shall demand: only give me this damsel to wife.

¹³The sons of Jacob answered Sichem and his father deceitfully, being enraged at the deflowering of their sister:

¹⁴We cannot do what you demand, nor give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; which with us is unlawful and abominable.

¹⁵But in this we may be allied with you, if you will be like us, and all the male sex among you be circumcised:

¹⁶Then will we mutually give and take your daughters, and ours; and we will dwell with you, and will be one people:

¹⁷But if you will not be circumcised, we will take our daughter and depart.

¹⁸Their offer pleased Hemor, and Sichem, his son:

¹⁹And the young man made no delay, but forthwith fulfilled what was required: for he loved the damsel exceedingly, and he was the greatest man in all his father’s house.

²⁰And going into the gate of the city, they spoke to the people:

²¹These men are peaceable, and are willing to dwell with us: let them trade in the land, and till it, which being large and wide wanteth men to till it: we shall take their daughters for wives, and we will give them ours.

²²One thing there is for which so great a good is deferred: We must circumcise every male among us, following the manner of the nation.

²³And their substance, and cattle, and all that they possess, shall be ours; only in this let us condescend, and by dwelling together, we shall make one people.

²⁴And they all agreed, and circumcised all the males.

²⁵And behold the third day, when the pain of the wound was greatest: two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dina, taking their swords, entered boldly into the city and slew all the men.

²⁶And they killed also Hemor and Sichem, and took away their sister Dina out of Sichem’s house.

²⁷And when they were gone out, the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain; and plundered the city in revenge of the rape.

²⁸And they took their sheep, and their herds, and their asses, wasting all they had in their houses and in their fields.

²⁹And their children and wives they took captive.

³⁰And when they had boldly perpetrated these things, Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have troubled me, and made me hateful to the Chanaanites and Pherezites, the inhabitants of this land. We are few: they will gather themselves together and kill me; and both I, and my house shall be destroyed.

³¹They answered: Should they abuse our sister as a strumpet?

Chapter 35

In the mean time God said to Jacob: Arise and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau, thy brother.

²And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed, and change your garments.

³Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God; who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey.

⁴So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.

⁵And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away.

⁶And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him.

⁷And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸At the same time Debora, the nurse of Rebecca, died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel, under an oak, and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping.

⁹And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

¹⁰Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.

¹¹And said to him: I am God almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

¹²And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

¹³And he departed from him.

¹⁴But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon:

¹⁵And calling the name of that place Bethel.

¹⁶And going forth from thence, he came in the spring time to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,

¹⁷By reason of her hard labour, she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.

¹⁸And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand.

¹⁹So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, this is Bethlehem.

²⁰And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulchre: this is the pillar of Rachel’s monument, to this day.

²¹Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.

²²And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³The sons of Lia: Ruben the first born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zabulon.

²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Bala, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Nephthali.

²⁶The sons of Zelpha, Lia’s handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

²⁷And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

²⁹And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

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