Genesis 33–34

Chapter 33

Jacob Meets Esau

¹Then 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.

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

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

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

⁵He 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.”

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

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

⁸And 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.”

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

¹⁰Jacob 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.

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

¹³But 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.”

¹⁵Esau 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.”

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

¹⁷Jacob 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

¹⁸Now 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.

^19aHe 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.

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

Chapter 34

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

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

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

³¹He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ²spoke tenderly to her.

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

⁵Now 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.

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

⁷Now 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.

⁸But 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; live and ^btrade in it and ^cacquire property in it.”

¹¹Shechem 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.”

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

¹⁴They 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,

¹⁶then 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.”

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

¹⁹The 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.

²⁰So 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.”

^24aAll 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.

²⁵Now 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.

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

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

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

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

³⁰Then 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.”

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