4 He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and astayed until now;

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

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

7 Then Jacob was agreatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies;

8 for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and 1attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”

9 Jacob said, “O aGod of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘bReturn to your country and to your relatives, and I will 1prosper you,’

10 1I am unworthy aof all the lovingkindness and of all the 2faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

11 “aDeliver me, I pray, bfrom the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and 1attack me and the cmothers with the children.

12 “For You said, ‘aI will surely 1prosper you and bmake your 2descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’ ”

13 So he spent the night there. Then he 1selected from what 2he had with him a apresent for his brother Esau:

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

15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

16 He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.”

17 He commanded the 1one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’

18 then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ”

19 Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

20 and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”

21 So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

22 Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the aJabbok.

23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles

24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man awrestled with him until daybreak.

25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “aI will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

28 aHe said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but 1Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”

29 Then aJacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob named the place 1Peniel, for he said, “aI have seen God face to face, yet my 2life has been preserved.”

31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over aPenuel, and he was limping on his thigh.

32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

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