Genesis 33–34

Jacob and Esau Meet

33Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, ^aEsau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. ²And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³Then he crossed over before them and ^bbowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4cBut Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, ^dand fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?”

So he said, “The children ^ewhom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

⁸Then Esau said, “What do you mean by ^fall this company which I met?”

And he said, “These are ^gto find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I ^hhave seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. ¹¹Please, take ⁱmy blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt ^jgraciously with me, and because I have ¹enough.” ^kSo he urged him, and he took it.

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

¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. ¹⁴Please let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, ²are able to endure, until I come to my lord ^lin Seir.”

¹⁵And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”

But he said, “What need is there? ^mLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to ⁿSuccoth, built himself a house, and made ³booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called ⁴Succoth.

Jacob Comes to Canaan

¹⁸Then Jacob came ⁵safely to ^othe city of ^pShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. ¹⁹And ^qhe bought the parcel of ⁶land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. ²⁰Then he erected an altar there and called it ^rEl ⁷Elohe Israel.

The Dinah Incident

34Now ^aDinah 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, prince of the country, saw her, he ^btook her and lay with her, and violated her. ³His soul ¹was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke ²kindly to the young woman. ⁴So Shechem ^cspoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”

⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob ^dheld ³his peace until they came. ⁶Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he ^ehad done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, ^fa thing which 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 as a wife. ⁹And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. ¹⁰So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹²Ask me ever so much ^gdowry ⁴and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”

¹³But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke ^hdeceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. ¹⁴And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is ⁱuncircumcised, for ^jthat would be a reproach to us. ¹⁵But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, ¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and be gone.”

¹⁸And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was ^kmore honorable than all the household of his father.

²⁰And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the ^lgate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying: ²¹“These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²²Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us, to be one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³Will not their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son; every male was circumcised, all who ^mwent out of the gate of his city.

²⁵Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, ⁿSimeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. ²⁶And they ^okilled Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. ²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, ²⁹and all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and they plundered even all that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ^p“You have ^qtroubled me ^rby making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; ^sand since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”

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