Genesis 33–34

¹And Jacob lifteth up his eyes, and looketh, and lo, Esau is coming, and with him four hundred men; and he divideth the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two maid-servants; ²and he setteth the maid-servants and their children first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³And he himself passed over before them, and boweth himself to the earth seven times, until his drawing nigh unto his brother, ⁴and Esau runneth to meet him, and embraceth him, and falleth on his neck, and kisseth him, and they weep.

⁵And he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the women and the children, and saith, ‘What are these to thee?’ And he saith, ‘The children with whom God hath favoured thy servant.’ ⁶And the maid-servants draw nigh, they and their children, and bow themselves; ⁷and Leah also draweth nigh, and her children, and they bow themselves; and afterwards Joseph hath drawn nigh with Rachel, and they bow themselves. ⁸And he saith, ‘What to thee is all this camp which I have met?’ and he saith, ‘To find grace in the eyes of my lord.’ ⁹And Esau saith, ‘I have abundance, my brother, let it be to thyself that which thou hast.’ ¹⁰And Jacob saith, ‘Nay, I pray thee, if, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, then thou hast received my present from my hand, because that I have seen thy face, as the seeing of the face of God, and thou art pleased with me; ¹¹receive, I pray thee, my blessing, which is brought to thee, because God hath favoured me, and because I have all things;’ and he presseth on him, and he receiveth, ¹²and saith, ‘Let us journey and go on, and I go on before thee.’ ¹³And he saith unto him, ‘My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the suckling flock and the herd are with me; when they have beaten them one day, then hath all the flock died. ¹⁴Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I—I lead on gently, according to the foot of the work which is before me, and to the foot of the children, until that I come unto my lord, to Seir.’ ¹⁵And Esau saith, ‘Let me, I pray thee, place with thee some of the people who are with me;’ and he said, ‘Why is this? I find grace in the eyes of my lord.’

¹⁶And turn back on that day doth Esau on his way to Seir; ¹⁷and Jacob hath journeyed to Succoth, and buildeth to himself a house, and for his cattle hath made booths, therefore hath he called the name of the place Succoth. ¹⁸And Jacob cometh in to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and encampeth before the city, ¹⁹and he buyeth the portion of the field where he hath stretched out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitah; ²⁰and he setteth up there an altar, and proclaimeth at it God—the God of Israel.

Chapter 34

¹And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she hath borne to Jacob, goeth out to look on the daughters of the land, ²and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her; ³and his soul cleaveth to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loveth the young person, and speaketh unto the heart of the young person. ⁴And Shechem speaketh unto Hamor his father, saying, ‘Take for me this damsel for a wife.’ ⁵And Jacob hath heard that he hath defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob kept silent till their coming.

⁶And Hamor, father of Shechem, goeth out unto Jacob to speak with him; ⁷and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it is very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob—and so it is not done. ⁸And Hamor speaketh with them, saying, ‘Shechem, my son, his soul hath cleaved to your daughter; give her, I pray you, to him for a wife, ⁹and join ye in marriage with us; your daughters ye give to us, and our daughters ye take to yourselves, ¹⁰and with us ye dwell, and the land is before you; dwell ye and trade in it, and have possessions in it.’ ¹¹And Shechem saith unto her father, and unto her brethren, ‘Let me find grace in your eyes, and that which ye say unto me, I give; ¹²multiply on me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I give as ye say unto me, and give to me the young person for a wife.’ ¹³And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister), ¹⁴and say unto them, ‘We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to one who hath a foreskin: for it is a reproach to us.

¹⁵‘Only for this we consent to you; if ye be as we, to have every male of you circumcised, ¹⁶then we have given our daughters to you, and your daughters we take to ourselves, and we have dwelt with you, and have become one people; ¹⁷and if ye hearken not unto us to be circumcised, then we have taken our daughter, and have gone.’

¹⁸And their words are good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor’s son; ¹⁹and the young man delayed not to do the thing, for he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he is honourable above all the house of his father. ²⁰And Hamor cometh—Shechem his son also—unto the gate of their city, and they speak unto the men of their city, saying, ²¹‘These men are peaceable with us; then let them dwell in the land, and trade in it; and the land, lo, is wide before them; their daughters let us take to ourselves for wives, and our daughters give to them.

²²‘Only for this do the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people, in every male of us being circumcised, as they are circumcised; ²³their cattle, and their substance, and all their beasts—are they not ours? only let us consent to them, and they dwell with us.’ ²⁴And unto Hamor, and unto Shechem his son, hearken do all those going out of the gate of his city, and every male is circumcised, all those going out of the gate of his city.

²⁵And it cometh to pass, on the third day, in their being pained, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, take each his sword, and come in against the city confidently, and slay every male; ²⁶and Hamor, and Shechem his son, they have slain by the mouth of the sword, and they take Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and go out. ²⁷Jacob’s sons have come in upon the wounded, and they spoil the city, because they had defiled their sister; ²⁸their flock and their herd, and their asses, and that which is in the city, and that which is in the field, have they taken; ²⁹and all their wealth, and all their infants, and their wives they have taken captive, and they spoil also all that is in the house. ³⁰And Jacob saith unto Simeon and unto Levi, ‘Ye have troubled me, by causing me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite, and among the Perizzite: and I am few in number, and they have been gathered against me, and have smitten me, and I have been destroyed, I and my house.’ ³¹And they say, ‘As a harlot doth he make our sister?’

Chapter 35