Genesis 32–34

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

2When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

4He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.

5I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”

7In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.

8He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

9Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’

10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.

11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

12But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

13Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:

14200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,

1530 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.

16He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

17He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’

18then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

19He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him.

20You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

21So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

22During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

23He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

24So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

25When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.

26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.

28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

29And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

30So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.

32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

1Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

2He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

3But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

4Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

5When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

6Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down.

7Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

8“What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

9“I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”

10But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably.

11Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.

12Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”

13But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.

14Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

15“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

16So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,

17but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

18After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city.

19And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

20There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

1Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

2When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

3And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.

4So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

5Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned.

6Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.

7When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done.

8But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife.

9Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.

10You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

11Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask.

12Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

13But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.

14“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us.

15We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males.

16Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people.

17But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”

18Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.

19The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.

20So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city:

21“These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.

22But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

23Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.”

24All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised.

25Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.

26They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

27Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled.

28They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field.

29They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.

30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

31But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”