Genesis 33:18-35:29

New American Standard Bible

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(A)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(B)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. ^19 (C)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 ^[a]pieces of money. ²⁰ Then he erected there an altar and called it ^[b]El-Elohe-Israel.

The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now ^(D)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to ^[c]visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor ^(E)the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her. ³ But ^[d]he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ^[e]spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(F)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 ^[f](G)disgraceful thing in Israel by ^[g]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 ^[h]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 ^(H)the land shall be ^[i]open to you; live and ^(I)trade in it and ^(J)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 ^[j]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 ^(K)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 ^[k]reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay to do ^[l]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 ^(L)gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are ^[m]friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is ^[n]large enough for them. We will take their daughters ^[o]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 (M)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—^(N)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 ^(O)brought trouble on me by ^(P)making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among ^(Q)the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and ^[p](R)since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and ^[q]attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!” ³¹ But they said, “Should he ^[r]treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Jacob Moves to Bethel

35 Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(S)Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to ^(T)God, who appeared to you ^(U)when you fled ^[s]from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(V)household and to all who were with him, “Remove ^(W)the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(X)purify yourselves and change your garments; ³ and let’s arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^(Y)an altar there to God, ^(Z)who answered me on the day of my distress and ^(AA)has been with me ^[t]wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which ^[u]they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ^[v]oak which was near Shechem.

⁵ As they journeyed, there was ^[w](AB)a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ So Jacob came to ^(AC)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. ⁷ Then ^(AD)he built an altar there, and called the place ^[x]El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ^[y]from his brother. ⁸ Now ^(AE)Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named ^[z]Allon-bacuth.

Jacob Is Named Israel

⁹ Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^(AF)blessed him. ^10 (AG)God said to him,

So He called ^[ab]him Israel. ¹¹ God also said to him,

¹³ Then ^(AM)God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him. ¹⁴ So Jacob set up ^(AN)a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^[ah](AO)Bethel.

¹⁶ Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to ^(AP)Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor. ¹⁷ And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for ^(AQ)you have another son!” ¹⁸ And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ^[ai]Ben-oni; but his father called him ^[aj]Benjamin. ¹⁹ So ^(AR)Rachel died and was buried on the way to ^(AS)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the ^(AT)memorial stone of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹ Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^[ak](AU)tower of ^[al]Eder.

The Sons of Israel

²² And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that ^(AV)Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Now there were twelve sons of Jacob— ^23 (AW)the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; ^24 (AX)the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin; ²⁵ and ^(AY)the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female slave, were Dan and Naphtali; ²⁶ and ^(AZ)the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

²⁷ Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(BA)Mamre of ^(BB)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided.

²⁸ Now the days of Isaac were ^(BC)180 years. ²⁹ Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was ^(BD)gathered to his people, an ^(BE)old man ^[am]of ripe age; and ^(BF)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.