Genesis 28-35

New Century Version

Jacob Searches for a Wife

28 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman. ² Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, in Northwest Mesopotamia. Laban, your mother’s brother, lives there. Marry one of his daughters. ³ May God Almighty bless you and give you many children, and may you become a group of many peoples. ⁴ May he give you and your descendants the blessing of Abraham so that you may own the land where you are now living as a stranger, the land God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ So Isaac sent Jacob to Northwest Mesopotamia, to Laban the brother of Rebekah. Bethuel the Aramean was the father of Laban and Rebekah, and Rebekah was the mother of Jacob and Esau.

⁶ Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Northwest Mesopotamia to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac had commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Northwest Mesopotamia. ⁸ So Esau saw that his father Isaac did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women. ⁹ Now Esau already had wives, but he went to Ishmael son of Abraham, and he married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. Mahalath was the sister of Nebaioth.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. ¹¹ When he came to a place, he spent the night there because the sun had set. He found a stone and laid his head on it to go to sleep. ¹² Jacob dreamed that there was a ladder resting on the earth and reaching up into heaven, and he saw angels of God going up and coming down the ladder. ¹³ Then Jacob saw the Lord standing above the ladder, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your grandfather, and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are now sleeping. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be as many as the dust of the earth. They will spread west and east, north and south, and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. ¹⁵ I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “This place frightens me! It is surely the house of God and the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had slept on and set it up on its end. Then he poured olive oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ At first, the name of that city was Luz, but Jacob named it Bethel.^[a]

²⁰ Then Jacob made a promise. He said, “I want God to be with me and to protect me on this journey. I want him to give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so I will be able to return in peace to my father’s house. If the Lord does these things, he will be my God. ²² This stone which I have set up on its end will be the house of God. And I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me.”

Jacob Arrives in Northwest Mesopotamia

29 Then Jacob continued his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. ² He looked and saw a well in the field and three flocks of sheep lying nearby, because they drank water from this well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well. ³ When all the flocks would gather there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place.

⁴ Jacob said to the shepherds there, “My brothers, where are you from?”

They answered, “We are from Haran.”

⁵ Then Jacob asked, “Do you know Laban, grandson of Nahor?”

They answered, “We know him.”

⁶ Then Jacob asked, “How is he?”

They answered, “He is well. Look, his daughter Rachel is coming now with his sheep.”

⁷ Jacob said, “But look, it is still the middle of the day. It is not time for the sheep to be gathered for the night, so give them water and let them go back into the pasture.”

⁸ But they said, “We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered. Then we will roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep.”

⁹ While Jacob was talking with the shepherds, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, because it was her job to care for the sheep. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Laban’s daughter Rachel and Laban’s sheep, he went to the well and rolled the stone from its mouth and watered Laban’s sheep. Now Laban was the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s mother. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and cried. ¹² He told her that he was from her father’s family and that he was the son of Rebekah. So Rachel ran home and told her father.

¹³ When Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him. Laban hugged him and kissed him and brought him to his house, where Jacob told Laban everything that had happened.

¹⁴ Then Laban said, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Jacob Is Tricked

Jacob stayed there a month. ¹⁵ Then Laban said to Jacob, “You are my relative, but it is not right for you to work for me without pay. What would you like me to pay you?”

¹⁶ Now Laban had two daughters. The older was Leah, and the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷ Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was very beautiful. ¹⁸ Jacob loved Rachel, so he said to Laban, “Let me marry your younger daughter Rachel. If you will, I will work seven years for you.”

¹⁹ Laban said, “It would be better for her to marry you than someone else, so stay here with me.” ²⁰ So Jacob worked for Laban seven years so he could marry Rachel. But they seemed like just a few days to him because he loved Rachel very much.

²¹ After seven years Jacob said to Laban, “Give me Rachel so that I may marry her. The time I promised to work for you is over.”

²² So Laban gave a feast for all the people there. ²³ That evening he brought his daughter Leah to Jacob, and they had sexual relations. ²⁴ (Laban gave his slave girl Zilpah to his daughter to be her servant.) ²⁵ In the morning when Jacob saw that he had had sexual relations with Leah, he said to Laban, “What have you done to me? I worked hard for you so that I could marry Rachel! Why did you trick me?”

²⁶ Laban said, “In our country we do not allow the younger daughter to marry before the older daughter. ²⁷ But complete the full week of the marriage ceremony with Leah, and I will give you Rachel to marry also. But you must serve me another seven years.”

²⁸ So Jacob did this, and when he had completed the week with Leah, Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife. ²⁹ (Laban gave his slave girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.) ³⁰ So Jacob had sexual relations with Rachel also, and Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Jacob worked for Laban for another seven years.

Jacob’s Family Grows

³¹ When the Lord saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, he made it possible for Leah to have children, but not Rachel. ³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,^[b] because she said, “The Lord has seen my troubles. Surely now my husband will love me.”

³³ Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Simeon^[c] and said, “The Lord has heard that I am not loved, so he has given me this son.”

³⁴ Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. She named him Levi^[d] and said, “Now, surely my husband will be close to me, because I have given him three sons.”

³⁵ Then Leah gave birth to another son. She named him Judah,^[e] because she said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Then Leah stopped having children.

30 When Rachel saw that she was not having children for Jacob, she envied her sister Leah. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” ² Jacob became angry with her and said, “Can I do what only God can do? He is the one who has kept you from having children.”

³ Then Rachel said, “Here is my slave girl Bilhah. Have sexual relations with her so she can give birth to a child for me. Then I can have my own family through her.”

⁴ So Rachel gave Bilhah, her slave girl, to Jacob as a wife, and he had sexual relations with her. ⁵ She became pregnant and gave Jacob a son. ⁶ Rachel said, “God has judged me innocent. He has listened to my prayer and has given me a son,” so she named him Dan.^[f]

⁷ Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. ⁸ Rachel said, “I have struggled hard with my sister, and I have won.” So she named that son Naphtali.^[g]

⁹ Leah saw that she had stopped having children, so she gave her slave girl Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰ When Zilpah had a son, ¹¹ Leah said, “I am lucky,” so she named him Gad.^{[h] 12} Zilpah gave birth to another son, ¹³ and Leah said, “I am very happy! Now women will call me happy,” so she named him Asher.^[i]

¹⁴ During the wheat harvest Reuben went into the field and found some mandrake^[j] plants and brought them to his mother Leah. But Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵ Leah answered, “You have already taken away my husband, and now you are trying to take away my son’s mandrakes.”

But Rachel answered, “If you will give me your son’s mandrakes, you may sleep with Jacob tonight.”

¹⁶ When Jacob came in from the field that night, Leah went out to meet him. She said, “You will have sexual relations with me tonight because I have paid for you with my son’s mandrakes.” So Jacob slept with her that night.

¹⁷ Then God answered Leah’s prayer, and she became pregnant again. She gave birth to a fifth son ¹⁸ and said, “God has given me what I paid for, because I gave my slave girl to my husband.” So Leah named her son Issachar.^[k]

¹⁹ Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. ²⁰ She said, “God has given me a fine gift. Now surely Jacob will honor me, because I have given him six sons,” so she named him Zebulun.^{[l] 21} Later Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

²² Then God remembered Rachel and answered her prayer, making it possible for her to have children. ²³ When she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, she said, “God has taken away my shame,” ²⁴ and she named him Joseph.^[m] Rachel said, “I wish the Lord would give me another son.”

Jacob Tricks Laban

²⁵ After the birth of Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Now let me go to my own home and country. ²⁶ Give me my wives and my children and let me go. I have earned them by working for you, and you know that I have served you well.”

²⁷ Laban said to him, “If I have pleased you, please stay. I know the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸ Tell me what I should pay you, and I will give it to you.”

²⁹ Jacob answered, “You know that I have worked hard for you, and your flocks have grown while I cared for them. ³⁰ When I came, you had little, but now you have much. Every time I did something for you, the Lord blessed you. But when will I be able to do something for my own family?”

³¹ Laban asked, “Then what should I give you?”

Jacob answered, “I don’t want you to give me anything. Just do this one thing, and I will come back and take care of your flocks. ³² Today let me go through all your flocks. I will take every speckled or spotted sheep, every black lamb, and every spotted or speckled goat. That will be my pay. ³³ In the future you can easily see if I am honest. When you come to look at my flocks, if I have any goat that isn’t speckled or spotted or any lamb that isn’t black, you will know I stole it.”

³⁴ Laban answered, “Agreed! We will do what you ask.” ³⁵ But that day Laban took away all the male goats that had streaks or spots, all the speckled and spotted female goats (all those that had white on them), and all the black sheep. He told his sons to watch over them. ³⁶ Then he took these animals to a place that was three days’ journey away from Jacob. Jacob took care of all the flocks that were left.

³⁷ So Jacob cut green branches from poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. ³⁸ He put the branches in front of the flocks at the watering places. When the animals came to drink, they also mated there, ³⁹ so the flocks mated in front of the branches. Then the young that were born were streaked, speckled, or spotted. ⁴⁰ Jacob separated the young animals from the others, and he made them face the streaked and dark animals in Laban’s flock. Jacob kept his animals separate from Laban’s. ⁴¹ When the stronger animals in the flock were mating, Jacob put the branches before their eyes so they would mate near the branches. ⁴² But when the weaker animals mated, Jacob did not put the branches there. So the animals born from the weaker animals were Laban’s, and those born from the stronger animals were Jacob’s. ⁴³ In this way Jacob became very rich. He had large flocks, many male and female servants, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob Runs Away

31 One day Jacob heard Laban’s sons talking. They said, “Jacob has taken everything our father owned, and in this way he has become rich.” ² Then Jacob noticed that Laban was not as friendly as he had been before. ³ The Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land where your ancestors lived, and I will be with you.”

⁴ So Jacob told Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where he kept his flocks. ⁵ He said to them, “I have seen that your father is not as friendly with me as he used to be, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶ You both know that I have worked as hard as I could for your father, ⁷ but he cheated me and changed my pay ten times. But God has not allowed your father to harm me. ⁸ When Laban said, ‘You can have all the speckled animals as your pay,’ all the animals gave birth to speckled young ones. But when he said, ‘You can have all the streaked animals as your pay,’ all the flocks gave birth to streaked babies. ⁹ So God has taken the animals away from your father and has given them to me.

¹⁰ “I had a dream during the season when the flocks were mating. I saw that the only male goats who were mating were streaked, speckled, or spotted. ¹¹ The angel of God spoke to me in that dream and said, ‘Jacob!’ I answered, ‘Yes!’ ¹² The angel said, ‘Look! Only the streaked, speckled, or spotted male goats are mating. I have seen all the wrong things Laban has been doing to you. ¹³ I am the God who appeared to you at Bethel, where you poured olive oil on the stone you set up on end and where you made a promise to me. Now I want you to leave here and go back to the land where you were born.’”

¹⁴ Rachel and Leah answered Jacob, “Our father has nothing to give us when he dies. ¹⁵ He has treated us like strangers. He sold us to you, and then he spent all of the money you paid for us. ¹⁶ God took all this wealth from our father, and now it belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you to do.”

¹⁷ So Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, ¹⁸ and they began their journey back to Isaac, his father, in the land of Canaan. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Northwest Mesopotamia.

¹⁹ While Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep, Rachel stole the idols that belonged to him. ²⁰ And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was leaving. ²¹ Jacob and his family left quickly, crossed the Euphrates River, and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.

²² Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away, ²³ so he gathered his relatives and began to chase him. After seven days Laban found him in the mountains of Gilead. ²⁴ That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, “Be careful! Do not say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”

The Search for the Stolen Idols

²⁵ So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had made his camp in the mountains, so Laban and his relatives set up their camp in the mountains of Gilead. ²⁶ Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You cheated me and took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war. ²⁷ Why did you run away secretly and trick me? Why didn’t you tell me? Then I could have sent you away with joy and singing and with the music of tambourines and harps. ²⁸ You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. You were very foolish to do this! ²⁹ I have the power to harm you, but last night the God of your father spoke to me and warned me not to say anything to you, good or bad. ³⁰ I know you want to go back to your home, but why did you steal my idols?”

³¹ Jacob answered Laban, “I left without telling you, because I was afraid you would take your daughters away from me. ³² If you find anyone here who has taken your idols, that person will be killed! Your relatives will be my witnesses. You may look for anything that belongs to you and take anything that is yours.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s idols.)

³³ So Laban looked in Jacob’s tent, in Leah’s tent, and in the tent where the two slave women stayed, but he did not find his idols. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent. ³⁴ Rachel had hidden the idols inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Although Laban looked through the whole tent, he did not find them.

³⁵ Rachel said to her father, “Father, don’t be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you because I am having my monthly period.” So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find his idols.

³⁶ Then Jacob became very angry and said, “What wrong have I done? What law have I broken to cause you to chase me? ³⁷ You have looked through everything I own, but you have found nothing that belongs to you. If you have found anything, show it to everyone. Put it in front of your relatives and my relatives, and let them decide which one of us is right. ³⁸ I have worked for you now for twenty years. During all that time none of the lambs and kids died during birth, and I have not eaten any of the male sheep from your flocks. ³⁹ Any time an animal was killed by wild beasts, I did not bring it to you, but made up for the loss myself. You made me pay for any animal that was stolen during the day or night. ⁴⁰ In the daytime the sun took away my strength, and at night I was cold and could not sleep. ⁴¹ I worked like a slave for you for twenty years—the first fourteen to get your two daughters and the last six to earn your flocks. During that time you changed my pay ten times. ⁴² But the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, was with me. Otherwise, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble I had and the hard work I did, and last night he corrected you.”

Jacob and Laban’s Agreement

⁴³ Laban said to Jacob, “These girls are my daughters. Their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. Everything you see here belongs to me, but I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children. ⁴⁴ Let us make an agreement, and let us set up a pile of stones to remind us of it.”

⁴⁵ So Jacob took a large rock and set it up on its end. ⁴⁶ He told his relatives to gather rocks, so they took the rocks and piled them up; then they ate beside the pile. ⁴⁷ Laban named that place in his language A Pile to Remind Us, and Jacob gave the place the same name in Hebrew.

⁴⁸ Laban said to Jacob, “This pile of rocks will remind us of the agreement between us.” That is why the place was called A Pile to Remind Us. ⁴⁹ It was also called Mizpah,^[n] because Laban said, “Let the Lord watch over us while we are separated from each other. ⁵⁰ Remember that God is our witness even if no one else is around us. He will know if you harm my daughters or marry other women. ⁵¹ Here is the pile of rocks that I have put between us and here is the rock I set up on end. ⁵² This pile of rocks and this rock set on end will remind us of our agreement. I will never go past this pile to hurt you, and you must never come to my side of them to hurt me. ⁵³ Let the God of Abraham, who is the God of Nahor and the God of their ancestors, punish either of us if we break this agreement.”

So Jacob made a promise in the name of the God whom his father Isaac worshiped. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob killed an animal and offered it as a sacrifice on the mountain, and he invited his relatives to share in the meal. After they finished eating, they spent the night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them, and then he left to return home.

Jacob Meets Esau

32 When Jacob also went his way, the angels of God met him. ² When he saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.^[o]

³ Jacob’s brother Esau was living in the area called Seir in the country of Edom. Jacob sent messengers to Esau, ⁴ telling them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘This is what Jacob, your servant, says: I have lived with Laban and have remained there until now. ⁵ I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I send this message to you and ask you to accept us.’”

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.”

⁷ Then Jacob was very afraid and worried. He divided the people who were with him and all the flocks, herds, and camels into two camps. ⁸ Jacob thought, “Esau might come and destroy one camp, but the other camp can run away and be saved.”

⁹ Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham! God of my father Isaac! Lord, you told me to return to my country and my family. You said that you would treat me well. ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the kindness and continual goodness you have shown me. The first time I traveled across the Jordan River, I had only my walking stick, but now I own enough to have two camps. ¹¹ Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid he will come and kill all of us, even the mothers with the children. ¹² You said to me, ‘I will treat you well and will make your children as many as the sand of the seashore. There will be too many to count.’”

¹³ Jacob stayed there for the night and prepared a gift for Esau from what he had with him: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep, ¹⁵ thirty female camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ Jacob gave each separate flock of animals to one of his servants and said to them, “Go ahead of me and keep some space between each herd.” ¹⁷ Jacob gave them their orders. To the servant with the first group of animals he said, “My brother Esau will come to you and ask, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going and whose animals are these?’ ¹⁸ Then you will answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sent them as a gift to you, my master Esau, and he also is coming behind us.’”

¹⁹ Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰ Say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” Jacob thought, “If I send these gifts ahead of me, maybe Esau will forgive me. Then when I see him, perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So Jacob sent the gifts to Esau, but he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²² During the night Jacob rose and crossed the Jabbok River at the crossing, taking with him his two wives, his two slave girls, and his eleven sons. ²³ He sent his family and everything he had across the river. ²⁴ So Jacob was alone, and a man came and wrestled with him until the sun came up. ²⁵ When the man saw he could not defeat Jacob, he struck Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint. ²⁶ Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go. The sun is coming up.”

But Jacob said, “I will let you go if you will bless me.”

²⁷ The man said to him, “What is your name?”

And he answered, “Jacob.”

²⁸ Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel,^[p] because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won.”

²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”

But the man said, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

³⁰ So Jacob named that place Peniel,^[q] saying, “I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved.” ³¹ Then the sun rose as he was leaving that place, and Jacob was limping because of his leg. ³² So even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle that is on the hip joint of animals, because Jacob was touched there.

Jacob Shows His Bravery

33 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and with him were four hundred men. So Jacob divided his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two slave girls. ² Jacob put the slave girls with their children first, then Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³ Jacob himself went out in front of them and bowed down flat on the ground seven times as he was walking toward his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet Jacob and put his arms around him and hugged him. Then Esau kissed him, and they both cried. ⁵ When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?”

Jacob answered, “These are the children God has given me. God has been good to me, your servant.”

⁶ Then the two slave girls and their children came up to Esau and bowed down flat on the earth before him. ⁷ Leah and her children also came up to Esau and also bowed down flat on the earth. Last of all, Joseph and Rachel came up to Esau, and they, too, bowed down flat before him.

⁸ Esau said, “I saw many herds as I was coming here. Why did you bring them?”

Jacob answered, “They were to please you, my master.”

⁹ But Esau said, “I already have enough, my brother. Keep what you have.”

¹⁰ Jacob said, “No! Please! If I have pleased you, then accept the gift I give you. I am very happy to see your face again. It is like seeing the face of God, because you have accepted me. ¹¹ So I beg you to accept the gift I give you. God has been very good to me, and I have more than I need.” And because Jacob begged, Esau accepted the gift.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us be going. I will travel with you.”

¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My master, you know that the children are weak. And I must be careful with my flocks and their young ones. If I force them to go too far in one day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴ So, my master, you go on ahead of me, your servant. I will follow you slowly and let the animals and the children set the speed at which we travel. I will meet you, my master, in Edom.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my people with you.”

“No, thank you,” said Jacob. “I only want to please you, my master.” ¹⁶ So that day Esau started back to Edom. ¹⁷ But Jacob went to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his animals. That is why the place was named Succoth.^[r]

¹⁸ Jacob left Northwest Mesopotamia and arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan. There he camped east of the city. ¹⁹ He bought a part of the field where he had camped from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver. ²⁰ He built an altar there and named it after God, the God of Israel.

Dinah Is Attacked

34 At this time Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. ² When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of the land, saw her, he took her and forced her to have sexual relations with him. ³ Shechem fell in love with Dinah, and he spoke kindly to her. ⁴ He told his father, Hamor, “Please get this girl for me so I can marry her.”

⁵ Jacob learned how Shechem had disgraced his daughter, but since his sons were out in the field with the cattle, Jacob said nothing until they came home. ⁶ While he waited, Hamor father of Shechem went to talk with Jacob.

⁷ When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they came in from the field. They were very angry that Shechem had done such a wicked thing to Israel. It was wrong for him to have sexual relations with Jacob’s daughter; a thing like this should not be done.

⁸ But Hamor talked to Dinah’s brothers and said, “My son Shechem is deeply in love with Dinah. Please let him marry her. ⁹ Marry our people. Give your women to our men as wives and take our women for your men as wives. ¹⁰ You can live in the same land with us. You will be free to own land and to trade here.”

¹¹ Shechem also talked to Jacob and to Dinah’s brothers and said, “Please accept my offer. I will give anything you ask. ¹² Ask as much as you want for the payment for the bride, and I will give it to you. Just let me marry Dinah.”

¹³ Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father with lies, because Shechem had disgraced their sister Dinah. ¹⁴ The brothers said to them, “We cannot allow you to marry our sister, because you are not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵ But we will allow you to marry her if you do this one thing: Every man in your town must be circumcised like us. ¹⁶ Then your men can marry our women, and our men can marry your women, and we will live in your land and become one people. ¹⁷ If you refuse to be circumcised, we will take Dinah and leave.”

¹⁸ What they asked seemed fair to Hamor and Shechem. ¹⁹ So Shechem quickly went to be circumcised because he loved Jacob’s daughter.

Now Shechem was the most respected man in his family. ²⁰ So Hamor and Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These people want to be friends with us. So let them live in our land and trade here. There is enough land for all of us. Let us marry their women, and we can let them marry our women. ²² But we must agree to one thing: All our men must be circumcised as they are. Then they will agree to live in our land, and we will be one people. ²³ If we do this, their cattle and their animals will belong to us. Let us do what they say, and they will stay in our land.” ²⁴ All the people who had come to the city gate heard this. They agreed with Hamor and Shechem, and every man was circumcised.

²⁵ Three days later the men who were circumcised were still in pain. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi (Dinah’s brothers), took their swords and made a surprise attack on the city, killing all the men there. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem and then took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and left. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon the dead bodies and stole everything that was in the city, to pay them back for what Shechem had done to their sister. ²⁸ So the brothers took the flocks, herds, and donkeys, and everything in the city and in the fields. ²⁹ They took every valuable thing the people owned, even their wives and children and everything in the houses.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have caused me a lot of trouble. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in the land will hate me. Since there are only a few of us, if they join together to attack us, my people and I will be destroyed.”

³¹ But the brothers said, “We will not allow our sister to be treated like a prostitute.”

Jacob in Bethel

35 God said to Jacob, “Go to the city of Bethel and live there. Make an altar to the God who appeared to you there when you were running away from your brother Esau.”

² So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods you have, and make yourselves clean, and change your clothes. ³ We will leave here and go to Bethel. There I will build an altar to God, who has helped me during my time of trouble. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, and the earrings they were wearing, and he hid them under the great tree near the town of Shechem. ⁵ Then Jacob and his sons left there. But God caused the people in the nearby cities to be afraid, so they did not follow them. ⁶ And Jacob and all the people who were with him went to Luz, which is now called Bethel, in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There Jacob built an altar and named the place Bethel, after God, because God had appeared to him there when he was running from his brother.

⁸ Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak tree at Bethel, so they named that place Oak of Crying.

Jacob’s New Name

⁹ When Jacob came back from Northwest Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. Your new name will be Israel.” So he called him Israel. ¹¹ God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Have many children and grow in number as a nation. You will be the ancestor of many nations and kings. ¹² The same land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your descendants.” ¹³ Then God left him. ¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone on edge in that place where God had talked to him, and he poured a drink offering and olive oil on it to make it special for God. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place Bethel.

Rachel Dies Giving Birth

¹⁶ Jacob and his group left Bethel. Before they came to Ephrath, Rachel began giving birth to her baby, ¹⁷ but she was having much trouble. When Rachel’s nurse saw this, she said, “Don’t be afraid, Rachel. You are giving birth to another son.” ¹⁸ Rachel gave birth to the son, but she herself died. As she lay dying, she named the boy Son of My Suffering, but Jacob called him Benjamin.^[s]

¹⁹ Rachel was buried on the road to Ephrath, a district of Bethlehem, ²⁰ and Jacob set up a rock on her grave to honor her. That rock is still there. ²¹ Then Israel^[t] continued his journey and camped just south of Migdal Eder.

²² While Israel was there, Reuben had sexual relations with Israel’s slave woman Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

The Family of Israel

Jacob had twelve sons. ²³ He had six sons by his wife Leah: Reuben, his first son, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴ He had two sons by his wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ He had two sons by Rachel’s slave girl Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ And he had two sons by Leah’s slave girl Zilpah: Gad and Asher.

These are Jacob’s sons who were born in Northwest Mesopotamia.

²⁷ Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre near Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. ²⁸ Isaac lived one hundred eighty years. ²⁹ So Isaac breathed his last breath and died when he was very old, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.