The Treachery of Jacob’s Sons

34 Now ^(A)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to ^[a]visit the daughters of the land. ² When Shechem the son of Hamor ^(B)the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her ^[b]by force. ^3 [c]He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ^[d]spoke tenderly to her. ⁴ So Shechem ^(C)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for a wife.” ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent 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 it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a ^[e](D)disgraceful thing in Israel ^[f]by lying 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 ^[g]in marriage. ⁹ Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰ Thus you shall ^[h]live with us, and ^(E)the land shall be open before you; ^[i]live and ^(F)trade in it and ^(G)acquire property in it.” ¹¹ Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. ¹² Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to 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 Dinah their sister. ¹⁴ They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to ^(H)one 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 be circumcised, ¹⁶ then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will ^[k]live with you and become one people. ¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

¹⁸ Now their words seemed ^[l]reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ The young man did not delay to do the thing, 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 ^(I)gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹ “These men are ^[m]friendly with us; therefore let them ^[n]live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is ^[o]large enough for them. Let us take their daughters ^[p]in marriage, and give our daughters to them. ²² Only on this condition will the men consent to us to ^[q]live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised. ²³ Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will ^[r]live with us.” ^24 (J)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, ^(K)Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, 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 went forth. ²⁷ Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and 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 all that was in the houses. ³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ^(L)brought trouble on me by ^(M)making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among ^(N)the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and ^[s](O)my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and ^[t]attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he ^[u]treat our sister as a harlot?”

A Psalm of Complaint and of Praise.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

The Syrophoenician Woman

^21 (A)Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of ^(B)Tyre and ^(C)Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, ^(D)Son of David; my daughter is cruelly ^(E)demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting ^[a]at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to ^(F)the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(G)began ^[b]to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ And He answered and said, “It is not ^[c]good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ But she said, “Yes, Lord; ^[d]but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, ^(H)your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed ^[e]at once.

Healing Crowds

^29 (I)Departing from there, Jesus went along by ^(J)the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰ And ^[f]large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^(K)He healed them. ³¹ So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ^[g]restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^(L)glorified the God of Israel.

Four Thousand Fed

^32 (M)And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^(N)I feel compassion for the ^[h]people, because they ^[i]have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” ³³ The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And He directed the ^[j]people to ^[k]sit down on the ground; ³⁶ and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^(O)giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^(P)baskets full. ³⁸ And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹ And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^(Q)the boat and came to the region of ^(R)Magadan.