Genesis 31:43-34:31

English Standard Version

⁴³ Then Laban answered and said to Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flocks are my flocks, and all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day for these my daughters or for their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Come now, ^(A)let us make a covenant, you and I. ^(B)And let it be a witness between you and me.” ⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(C)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said to his kinsmen, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha,^[a] but Jacob called it Galeed.^{[b] 48} Laban said, ^(D)“This heap is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore he named it Galeed, ^49 (E)and Mizpah,^[c] for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another's sight. ⁵⁰ If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, ^(F)God is witness between you and me.”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap and the pillar, which I have set between you and me. ^52 (G)This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(H)Fear of his father Isaac, ⁵⁴ and Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called ^(I)his kinsmen to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.

^55 [d] Early in the morning Laban arose and kissed ^(J)his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned home.

Jacob Fears Esau

32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God's ^(K)camp!” So he called the name of that place ^(L)Mahanaim.^[e]

³ And Jacob sent^[f] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ^(M)Seir, the country of Edom, ⁴ instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ^(N)I may find favor in your sight.’”

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(O)he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was ^(P)greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸ thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, ^(Q)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^(R)said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10 (S)I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^(T)I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹² But ^(U)you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”

¹³ So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took ^(V)a present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷ He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” ¹⁹ He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him^[g] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”^{[h] 21} So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²² The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,^[i] and crossed the ford of the ^(W)Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And ^(X)a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, ^(Y)“I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then he said, ^(Z)“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[j] for ^(AA)you have striven with God and ^(AB)with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, ^(AC)“Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,^[k] saying, “For ^(AD)I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹ The sun rose upon him as he passed ^(AE)Penuel, limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(AF)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on before them, ^(AG)bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4 (AH)But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him ^(AI)and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, ^(AJ)“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by ^(AK)all this company^[l] that I met?” Jacob answered, ^(AL)“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. ^(AM)For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my ^(AN)blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he ^(AO)urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of^[m] you.” ¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord ^(AP)in Seir.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? ^(AQ)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to ^(AR)Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^(AS)Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.^[n]

¹⁸ And Jacob came safely^[o] to the city of ^(AT)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹ And from the sons of ^(AU)Hamor, Shechem's father, ^(AV)he bought for a hundred pieces of money^[p] the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[q]

The Defiling of Dinah

34 Now ^(AW)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of ^(AX)Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(AY)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and ^(AZ)very angry, because he ^(BA)had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, ^(BB)for such a thing must not be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your^[r] daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. ⁹ Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ You shall dwell with us, and ^(BC)the land shall be open to you. Dwell and ^(BD)trade in it, and ^(BE)get property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, ^(BF)“Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹² Ask me for as great a ^(BG)bride-price^[s] and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for ^(BH)that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. ¹⁶ Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.”

¹⁸ Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. ¹⁹ And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now ^(BI)he was the most honored of all his father's house. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem ^(BJ)came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and ^(BK)trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” ²⁴ And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who ^(BL)went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, ^(BM)Simeon and Levi, ^(BN)Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹ All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ^(BO)“You have brought trouble on me ^(BP)by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, ^(BQ)the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ^(BR)My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”