Genesis 33 - 34
Jacob Meets Esau
33Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, aEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children 1among Leah and Rachel and the two servant-women. 2And he put the servant-women and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them. 3But he himself passed on ahead of them and abowed down to the ground seven times, until he bcame near to his brother.
4Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and afell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “1Who are these with you?” And he said, “aThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6Then the servant-women came near 1with their children, and they bowed down. 7Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down. 8And he said, “What do you mean by aall 1these camps which I have met?” And he said, “bTo find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9But Esau said, “aI have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” 10And Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, 1for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. 11“Please take my ablessing which has been brought to you, bbecause God has dealt graciously with me and because I have 1everything.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.
12Then 1Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.” 13But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are 1a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. 14“Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at aSeir.”
15Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why do this? aLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17But Jacob journeyed to 1,aSuccoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.
Jacob Camps in Shechem
18Now Jacob came safely to the city of aShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from bPaddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19aThen he bought a portion of a field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred 1qesitah. 20Then he set up there an altar and called it 1El-Elohe-Israel.
Simeon and Levi Deceive Shechem
34Now aDinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2Then Shechem the son of Hamor athe Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her and took her and lay with her and violated her. 31And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman. 4So Shechem aspoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl as 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 1,adisgraceful 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 as a wife. 9“And 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; 2live and btrade in it and ctake possession of property in it.” 11And Shechem 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 as a wife.”
13But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, and thus they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to aone who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. 15“Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male among 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 good in the sight of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more honored 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 peaceful with us; therefore let them 1live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is 2large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives 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 what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will 1live with us.” 24aAnd all 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 happened 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 unsuspecting city and killed every male. 26And they killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went away. 27Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and plundered 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 plundered 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 1,dmy men being few in number, they will gather together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” 31But they said, “Should he 1treat our sister as a harlot?”