Genesis 32-35

Genesis 32

¹And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

²And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

⁴And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau; Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now:

⁵and I have oxen, and asses and flocks, and menservants ard maidservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

⁸and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape.

⁹And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:

¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies.

¹¹Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children.

¹²And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³And he lodged there that night; and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother;

¹⁴two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milch camels and their colts, forty kine and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals.

¹⁶And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

¹⁷And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

¹⁸then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us.

¹⁹And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him;

²⁰and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me.

²¹So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

²²And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of Jabbok.

²³And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that he had.

²⁴And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

²⁵And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him.

²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

²⁷And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

²⁸And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

³¹And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he halted upon his thigh.

³²Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

Genesis 33

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.

²And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

³And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.

⁶Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

⁷And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

⁸And he said, What meanest thou by all this company which I met? And he said, To find grace in the sight of my lord.

⁹And Esau said, I have enough; my brother, let that thou hast be thine.

¹⁰And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

¹¹Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

¹²And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

¹³And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me give suck: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

¹⁵And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

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

¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

¹⁸And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city.

¹⁹And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.

²⁰And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.

Genesis 34

¹And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

²And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her.

³And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

⁴And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.

⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.

⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

⁸And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her unto him to wife.

⁹And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.

¹⁰And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.

¹¹And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.

¹²Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.

¹³And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

¹⁴and said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us:

¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;

¹⁶then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

¹⁷But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

¹⁸And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.

¹⁹And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was honoured above all the house of his father.

²⁰And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,

²¹These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

²²Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

²³Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.

²⁴And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and slew all the males.

²⁶And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went forth.

²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.

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

²⁹and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, took they captive and spoiled, even all that was in the house.

³⁰And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

³¹And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

Genesis 35

¹And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

²Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

³and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

⁴And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

⁵And they journeyed: and a great terror was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

⁶So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him.

⁷And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

⁸And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.

⁹And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

¹⁰And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

¹¹And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

¹²and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

¹³And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him.

¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.

¹⁶And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son.

¹⁸And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

²⁰And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.

²¹And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

²²And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

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

²⁴the sons of Rachel; Joseph and Benjamin:

²⁵and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan and Naphtali:

²⁶and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

²⁹And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.