32 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him; ² when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s camp!” So he called that place Mahanaim.^[a](A)

Jacob Sends Presents to Appease Esau

³ Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,^{(B) 4} instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have lived with Laban as an alien and stayed until now,^{(C) 5} and I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”^(D)

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”^{(E) 7} Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies,^{(F) 8} thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company that is left will escape.”

⁹ And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’^{(G) 10} I am not worthy of the least of all the 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 companies.^{(H) 11} Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children.^{(I) 12} Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”^(J)

¹³ So he spent that night there, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau,^{(K) 14} two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ These he delivered into the hand of 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 one in the lead, “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 meet him, ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”^{(L) 21} So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

²² The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.^{(M) 23} He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. ²⁴ Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.^{(N) 25} When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the 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 is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”^{(O) 27} So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ Then the man^[b] said, “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[c] for you have striven with God and with humans^[d] and have prevailed.”^{(P) 29} Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.^{(Q) 30} So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[e] saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved.”^{(R) 31} The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. ³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the hip socket, because he struck Jacob on the hip socket at the thigh muscle.

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.^{(S) 2} He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on ahead of them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near his brother.^(T)

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.^{(U) 5} 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.”^{(V) 6} Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down; ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and finally Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor with my lord.”^{(W) 9} 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.^{(X) 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.^(Y)

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.”^(Z)

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?”^{(AA) 16} So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to Succoth^[f] and built himself a house and made booths for his cattle; therefore the place is called Succoth.^(AB)

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.^{(AC) 19} And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money^[g] the plot of land on which he had pitched his tent.^{(AD) 20} There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[h]

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.^{(AE) 2} When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the region, saw her, he seized her and lay with her by force. ³ And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl to be my wife.”^(AF)

⁵ Now Jacob heard that Shechem^[i] had defiled his daughter Dinah, but his sons were with his cattle 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 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.^(AG)

⁸ But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The heart of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. ⁹ 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.”^{(AH) 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.”^(AI)

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.^{(AJ) 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.^{(AK) 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.^(AL)

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.^{(AM) 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.”^{(AN) 31} But they said, “Should our sister be treated like a prostitute?”

Psalm 145

The Greatness and the Goodness of God

Praise. Of David.

The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

13 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” ² Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”^(A)

³ When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,^{(B) 4} “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” ⁵ Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray.^{(C) 6} Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’^[a] and they will lead many astray.^{(D) 7} When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Persecution Foretold

⁹ “As for yourselves, beware, for they will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them.^{(E) 10} And the good news^[b] must first be proclaimed to all nations. ¹¹ When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit.^{(F) 12} Sibling will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,^{(G) 13} and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.^(H)

The Desolating Sacrilege

¹⁴ “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains;^{(I) 15} the one on the housetop must not go down or enter to take anything from the house; ¹⁶ the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. ¹⁷ Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!^{(J) 18} Pray that it may not be in winter. ¹⁹ For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now and never will be.^{(K) 20} And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days. ²¹ And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’^[c] or ‘Look! There he is!’—do not believe it.^{(L) 22} False messiahs^[d] and false prophets will appear and produce signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.^{(M) 23} But be alert; I have already told you everything.^(N)

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁴ “But in those days, after that suffering,

²⁶ “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.^{(P) 27} Then he will send out the angels and gather the^[e] elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he^[f] is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.^{(Q) 31} Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.^(R)

The Necessity for Watchfulness

³² “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.^{(S) 33} Beware, keep alert,^[g] for you do not know when the time will come.^{(T) 34} It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.^{(U) 35} Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn,^{(V) 36} or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”