Genesis 34–35

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

¹And God saith unto Jacob, ‘Rise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared unto thee in thy fleeing from the face of Esau thy brother.’ ²And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who are with him, ‘Turn aside the gods of the stranger which are in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments; ³and we rise, and go up to Bethel, and I make there an altar to God, who is answering me in the day of my distress, and is with me in the way that I have gone.’ ⁴And they give unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger that are in their hand, and the rings that are in their ears, and Jacob hideth them under the oak which is by Shechem; ⁵and they journey, and the terror of God is on the cities which are round about them, and they have not pursued after the sons of Jacob.

⁶And Jacob cometh in to Luz which is in the land of Canaan (it is Bethel), he and all the people who are with him, ⁷and he buildeth there an altar, and proclaimeth at the place the God of Bethel: for there had God been revealed unto him, in his fleeing from the face of his brother. ⁸And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, dieth, and she is buried at the lower part of Bethel, under the oak, and he calleth its name ‘Oak of weeping.’ ⁹And God appeareth unto Jacob again, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and blesseth him; ¹⁰and God saith to him, ‘Thy name is Jacob: thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel is thy name;’ and He calleth his name Israel. ¹¹And God saith to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply, a nation and an assembly of nations is from thee, and kings from thy loins go out; ¹²and the land which I have given to Abraham and to Isaac—to thee I give it, yea to thy seed after thee I give the land.’ ¹³And God goeth up from him, in the place where He hath spoken with him. ¹⁴And Jacob setteth up a standing pillar in the place where He hath spoken with him, a standing pillar of stone, and he poureth on it an oblation, and he poureth on it oil; ¹⁵and Jacob calleth the name of the place where God spake with him Bethel.

¹⁶And they journey from Bethel, and there is yet a kibrath of land before entering Ephratha, and Rachel beareth, and is sharply pained in her bearing; ¹⁷and it cometh to pass, in her being sharply pained in her bearing, that the midwife saith to her, ‘Fear not, for this also is a son for thee.’ ¹⁸And it cometh to pass in the going out of her soul (for she died), that she calleth his name Ben-Oni; and his father called him Benjamin; ¹⁹and Rachel dieth, and is buried in the way to Ephratha, which is Bethlehem, ²⁰and Jacob setteth up a standing pillar over her grave; which is the standing pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.

²¹And Israel journeyeth, and stretcheth out his tent beyond the tower of Edar; ²²and it cometh to pass in Israel’s dwelling in that land, that Reuben goeth, and lieth with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heareth. ²³And the sons of Jacob are twelve. Sons of Leah: Jacob’s first-born Reuben, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴Sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵And sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid-servant: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶And sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid-servant: Gad and Asher. These are sons of Jacob, who have been born to him in Padan-Aram. ²⁷And Jacob cometh unto Isaac his father, at Mamre, the city of Arba (which is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac have sojourned. ²⁸And the days of Isaac are a hundred and eighty years, ²⁹and Isaac expireth, and dieth, and is gathered unto his people, aged and satisfied with days; and bury him do Esau and Jacob his sons.

Chapter 36