Genesis 34–35

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?”

Chapter 35

Jacob Moves to Bethel

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^aBethel and ¹live there, and make an altar there to ^bGod, who appeared to you ^cwhen you fled ²from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob said to his ^ahousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away ^bthe foreign gods which are among you, and ^cpurify yourselves and change your garments;

³and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^aan altar there to God, ^bwho answered me in the day of my distress and ^chas been with me ¹wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which ¹they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ²oak which was near Shechem.

⁵As they journeyed, there was ^1aa great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶So Jacob came to ^aLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

^7aHe built an altar there, and called the place ¹El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ²from his brother.

⁸Now ^aDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named ¹Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^ablessed him.

^10aGod said to him,

“Your name is Jacob;

¹You shall no longer be called Jacob,

But Israel shall be your name.”

Thus He called ²him Israel.

¹¹God also said to him,

“I am ^1aGod Almighty;

^bBe fruitful and multiply;

A nation and a ^ccompany of nations shall ²come from you,

And ^dkings shall come forth from ³you.

¹²“^aThe land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac,

I will give it to you,

And I will give the land to your ¹descendants after you.”

¹³Then ^aGod went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴Jacob set up ^aa pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

¹⁵So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^1aBethel.

¹⁶Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to ^aEphrath, Rachel began to give birth and she ¹suffered severe labor.

¹⁷When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now ^ayou have another son.”

¹⁸It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ¹Ben-oni; but his father called him ²Benjamin.

¹⁹So ^aRachel died and was buried on the way to ^bEphrath (that is, Bethlehem).

²⁰Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the ^apillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

²¹Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^1atower of ²Eder.

²²It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that ^aReuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

The Sons of Israel

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

^23athe sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

^24athe sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

²⁵and ^athe sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali;

²⁶and ^athe sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^aMamre of ^bKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

²⁸Now the days of Isaac were ^aone hundred and eighty years.

²⁹Isaac breathed his last and died and was ^agathered to his people, an ^bold man ¹of ripe age; and ^chis sons Esau and Jacob buried him.