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Jacob and Esau Meet

33 Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.(A) He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.(B)

But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.(C) When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”(D) Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down; Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor with my lord.”(E) But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand, for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me with such favor.(F) 11 Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have everything I want.” So he urged him, and he took it.(G)

12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go alongside you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me, and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of 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 in Seir.”(H)

15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why should my lord be so kind to me?”(I) 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth[a] and built himself a house and made booths for his cattle; therefore the place is called Succoth.(J)

Jacob Reaches Shechem

18 Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city.(K) 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money[b] the plot of land on which he had pitched his tent.(L) 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.[c]

The Rape of Dinah

34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the region.(M) When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”(N)

Now Jacob heard that Shechem[d] had defiled his daughter Dinah, but his sons were with his cattle in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him, just as the sons of Jacob came in from the field. When they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.(O)

But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. Make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall live with us, and the land shall be open to you; live and trade in it and get property in it.”(P) 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor with you, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Put the marriage present and gift as high as you like, and I will give whatever you ask me; only give me the young woman to be my wife.”(Q)

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 that would be a disgrace to us.(R) 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male among you be circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live among you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and 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 was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his family.(S) 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will they agree to live among us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live among us.” 24 And all who went out of the city gate heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.(T)

Dinah’s Brothers Avenge Their Sister

25 On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares and killed all the males.(U) 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. 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 made their prey. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.”(V) 31 But they said, “Should our sister be treated like a prostitute?”

Jacob Returns to Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”(W) So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;(X) then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”(Y) So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak that was near Shechem.(Z)

As they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities all around them, so that no one pursued them.(AA) Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him,(AB) and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,[e] because it was there that God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.(AC) And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So it was called Allon-bacuth.[f](AD)

God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.(AE) 10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall you be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he was called Israel.(AF) 11 God said to him, “I am God Almighty:[g] be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.(AG) 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”(AH) 13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.(AI) 14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.(AJ) 15 So Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.(AK)

The Birth of Benjamin and the Death of Rachel

16 Then they journeyed from Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. 17 When she was in her hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for now you have another son.”(AL) 18 As her soul was departing, for she was dying, she named him Ben-oni,[h] but his father called him Benjamin.[i] 19 And Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem,(AM) 20 and Jacob set up a pillar at her grave; it is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day.(AN) 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.(AO) 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

The Death of Isaac

27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had resided as aliens.(AP) 28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last; he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.(AQ)

Footnotes

  1. 33.17 That is, booths
  2. 33.19 Heb one hundred qesitah
  3. 33.20 That is, God, the God of Israel
  4. 34.5 Heb he
  5. 35.7 That is, God of Bethel
  6. 35.8 That is, oak of weeping
  7. 35.11 Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai
  8. 35.18 That is, son of my sorrow
  9. 35.18 That is, son of the right hand or son of the south

The Twelve Apostles

10 Then Jesus[a] summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.(A) These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus;[b] Simon the Cananaean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.(B)

The Mission of the Twelve

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town,(C) but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.(D) As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’[c](E) Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers deserve their food.(F) 11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.(G) 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.(H)

Coming Persecutions

16 “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.(I) 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles.(J) 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. 10.1 Gk he
  2. 10.3 Other ancient authorities read Lebbaeus or Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus
  3. 10.7 Or is at hand