Genesis 32-34New King James Version (NKJV)
Esau Comes to Meet Jacob
32 So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of
God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said,
“This is God’s camp.” And he called the name of that place
Mahanaim.[a]
3 Then Jacob sent messengers before
him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 And
he commanded them, saying, “Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant
Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. 5 I
have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to
tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.”’”
6 Then the messengers returned to
Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet
you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 So
Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with
him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. 8 And
he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other
company which is left will escape.”
9 Then Jacob said, “O God of my
father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me,
‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with
you’: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the
mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed
over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver
me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him,
lest he come and attack me and the mother with the
children. 12 For You said, ‘I will surely treat you
well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
numbered for multitude.’”
13 So he lodged there that same
night, and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother: 14 two
hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty
rams, 15 thirty milk camels with their colts, forty
cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16 Then
he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by
itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance
between successive droves.” 17 And he commanded the
first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To
whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these
in front of you?’ 18 then you shall say,
‘They are your servant Jacob’s. It is a
present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind
us.’” 19 So he commanded the second, the third, and
all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau
when you find him; 20 and also say, ‘Behold, your
servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him
with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face;
perhaps he will accept me.”21 So the present went on over
before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
Wrestling with God
22 And he arose that night and took
his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over
the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over
the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob
was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now
when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his
hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with
him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go, for the day
breaks.”
But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
27 So He said to him, “What is your
name?”
He said, “Jacob.”
28 And He said, “Your name shall no
longer be called Jacob, but Israel;[b] for you have struggled
with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 Then Jacob asked, saying,
“Tell me Your name, I pray.”
And He said, “Why is it that you
ask about My name?” And He blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the name of the
place Peniel:[c] “For I have seen God
face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31 Just as
he crossed over Penuel[d] the sun rose on him,
and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day
the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on
the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that
shrank.
Jacob and Esau Meet
33 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and
there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the
children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants. 2 And
he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children
behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he
crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he
came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet him, and
embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And
he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these
with you?”
So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your
servant.” 6 Then the maidservants came near, they
and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah also
came near with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel
came near, and they bowed down.
8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean
by all this company which I met?”
And he said, “These are 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 And Jacob said, “No, please, if I
have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand,
inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you
were pleased with me. 11 Please, take my blessing
that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I
have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our
journey; let us go, and I will go before you.”
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows
that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are
nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one
day, all the flock will die. 14 Please let my lord
go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock
that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my
lord in Seir.”
15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave
with you some of the people who are with me.”
But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the
sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on
his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth,
built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of
the place is called Succoth.[e]
Jacob Comes to Canaan
18 Then Jacob came safely to the city
of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from
Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. 19 And
he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children
of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. 20 Then
he erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.[f]
The Dinah Incident
34 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had
borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And
when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he
took her and lay with her, and violated her. 3 His
soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the
young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 So
Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled
Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob
held his peace until they came. 6 Then Hamor the
father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 And
the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and
the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in
Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which 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 as a
wife. 9 And make marriages with us; give your
daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves. 10 So
you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in
it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.”
11 Then Shechem said to her father
and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I
will give. 12 Ask me ever so much dowry and gift,
and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as
a wife.”
13 But the sons of Jacob answered
Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled
Dinah their sister. 14 And they said to them, “We
cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for
that would be a reproach to us. 15 But
on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become
as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, 16 then
we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and
we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17 But
if you will not heed us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and
be gone.”
18 And their words pleased Hamor and
Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 So the young man did not
delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was more
honorable than all the household of his father.
20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came
to the gate of their city, and spoke with the men of their city, saying: 21 “These
men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land
and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them.
Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give them our daughters.22 Only
on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us, to be
one people: if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not
their livestock, their property, and every animal of theirs be ours?
Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And
all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son;
every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 Now it came to pass on the third
day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi,
Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed
all the males. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem
his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and
went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain,
and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. 28 They
took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in
the city and what was in the field, 29 and
all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and
they plundered even all that was in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and
Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the
land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few
in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall
be destroyed, my household and I.”
31 But they said, “Should he treat
our sister like a harlot?”
No comments:
Post a Comment