Genesis 33-34

New American Standard Bible

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(A)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^[a]among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women. ² He put the slave women and their children ^[b]in front, and Leah and her children ^[c]next, and Rachel and Joseph ^[d]last. ³ But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(B)bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(C)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “^[e]Who are these with you?” So he said, “^(D)The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the slave women came forward ^[f]with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ And Leah likewise came forward with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed down. ⁸ And he said, “What do you mean by ^(E)all this company which I have met?” And he said, “^(F)To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “^(G)I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, ^[g]for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. ¹¹ Please accept my ^[h](H)gift which has been brought to you, ^(I)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^[i]plenty.” So he urged him, and he accepted it.

¹² Then ^[j]Esau said, “Let’s journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³ But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are ^[k]a matter of concern to me. And if they are driven hard just one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, at the pace of the cattle that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^(J)Seir.”

¹⁵ Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “^[l]What need is there? ^(K)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^[m](L)Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(M)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(N)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (O)He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[n]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[o]El-Elohe-Israel.

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now ^(P)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to ^[p]visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor ^(Q)the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her. ³ But ^[q]he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ^[r]spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(R)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.” ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in. ⁶ Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷ Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a ^[s](S)disgraceful thing in Israel by ^[t]sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him ^[u]in marriage. ⁹ And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ So you will live with us, and ^(T)the land shall be ^[v]open to you; live and ^(U)trade in it and ^(V)acquire property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me. ¹² Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl ^[w]in marriage.”

¹³ But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a ^(W)man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸ Now their words seemed ^[x]reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay to do ^[y]this, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father. ²⁰ So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the ^(X)gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are ^[z]friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is ^[aa]large enough for them. We will take their daughters ^[ab]in marriage, and give our daughters to them. ²² Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised. ²³ Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let’s just consent to them, and they will live with us.” ^24 (Y)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.

²⁵ Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons—^(Z)Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field; ²⁹ and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ^(AA)brought trouble on me by ^(AB)making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among ^(AC)the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and ^[ac](AD)since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and ^[ad]attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” ³¹ But they said, “Should he ^[ae]treat our sister like a prostitute?”