Beginning
Jacob's journey home
32 Jacob continued on his journey to his father's house. On his way the angels of God met him.[a] 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is where God's army has put up their tents!’ So he called that place Mahanaim.
3 Jacob sent men with a message to his brother Esau. Esau was living in the land of Seir, also called Edom. 4 Jacob told his men, ‘This is what you must say to my master Esau: Your servant Jacob says, “I have been staying with Laban until now. 5 I have cows, donkeys, sheep and goats. I have male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord so that you will be happy with me.” ’
6 When the men returned, they said to Jacob, ‘We went to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you and he has 400 men with him.’ 7 Jacob was very frightened and upset when he heard this. So he separated his people into two groups. He also separated his animals. 8 He thought, ‘If Esau attacks one group, the other group may run away safely.’
9 Then Jacob prayed, ‘God of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac, Lord, you said to me, “Go back to your country and to your relatives. I will do good things for you there.” 10 You have always loved me. You have continued to be kind to me. I do not deserve this. When I crossed the Jordan River to go to Haran, I only had my stick. But now I can make two big groups of people and animals. 11 I pray that you will save me from the power of my brother Esau. I am afraid that he will come and attack me. He may also attack my family. 12 But you have said, “I will give you many good things. I will give you so many descendants that nobody will be able to count them. They will be as many as the pieces of sand on the shore of the sea.” ’[b]
13 Jacob stayed in that place for the night. He chose some of his animals as a gift for Esau. 14 He chose 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep. 15 He also chose 30 female camels, with their young ones, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He told his servants to take care of them. He separated each group of animals from the other groups. Jacob said to his servants, ‘Go in front of me. Keep some space between each group of animals.’ 17 He told the servant who led the first group of animals, ‘When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask, “Who do you belong to? Where are you going? Who do all these animals belong to?” 18 Then you must say, “They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift that he has sent to my lord Esau. Jacob himself is coming behind us.” ’ 19 Jacob also told the servants who led the other groups of animals, as well as the servants who followed behind them, ‘You are to say the same thing to Esau, when you meet him. 20 You must also say “Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.” ’
Jacob thought, ‘Esau will be happy to receive my gifts. He will no longer be angry with me. Then, when I meet him, he will not hurt me.’ 21 So Jacob sent the men with his gifts to go on to meet Esau. But he himself stayed in that place for the night.
22 During the night Jacob took with him his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons. They went across the Jabbok river where there was a place to cross.[c] 23 After Jacob had sent his family across, he also sent all his things across the stream. 24 Then Jacob was alone. A man came and fought with him for a long time.[d] They continued until dawn.
25 The man saw that he was not winning the fight against Jacob. So he hit Jacob's hip while they were fighting.[e] In that way, Jacob's hip moved out of its proper place. 26 Then the man said to Jacob, ‘Now let me go because dawn has come.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’
27 The man asked Jacob, ‘What is your name?’ Jacob replied, ‘My name is Jacob.’ 28 Then the man said, ‘Your name will not be Jacob any longer. Your name will now be Israel.[f] That is because you have fought with God and you have fought with men. And you have won!’
29 Then Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But the man said, ‘Why do you want to know my name?’ Then he blessed Jacob in that place. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel.[g] He said, ‘I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive!’
31 The sun rose in the sky as Jacob passed through Peniel. He could not walk properly because of his hip.
32 Even today, the Israelite people do not eat the meat of an animal where it joins to the hip. This is because God touched Jacob's hip.[h]
Jacob meets Esau
33 Jacob looked up. He saw Esau with 400 men coming towards him. So he separated his children into groups. Some went with Leah, some went with Rachel, and some went with his two female servants. 2 He put his female servants and their children at the front of the group. Then came Leah and her children. But Jacob put his son Joseph with Rachel at the back of the group. 3 Jacob himself went in front of these groups. He bent down to the ground to respect Esau. He did this seven times as he came nearer to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and he hugged him. He put his arms round Jacob's neck and he kissed him. They both wept.
5 Then Esau looked up. He saw the women and children. He asked, ‘Who are these people with you?’ Jacob replied, ‘They are the children that God has given to me, your servant.’
6 Then the female servants and their children came to Esau. As they came near to him, they bent down to the ground. 7 Then Leah and her children came and they bent down in front of Esau. Last of all, Joseph and Rachel came to Esau and they also bent down to the ground. 8 Esau asked Jacob, ‘Why did you send all those animals in front of you?’ Jacob replied, ‘So that you would be happy to see me, my lord.’ 9 But Esau said, ‘Keep your animals for yourself, my brother. I have enough animals of my own.’ 10 But Jacob replied, ‘No! If you are happy to see me, please accept these animals as a gift from me. When you met me and I saw your face, it was as if I saw the face of God himself. I am happy that you have met me as a friend. 11 So please accept the gift that I brought to you. God has been very kind to me so that I have everything that I need.’ So Esau accepted the gifts because Jacob would not agree to keep them.
12 Then Esau said, ‘Let us continue to go on our way. I will travel with you.’ 13 But Jacob said, ‘My lord, the children are not very strong. Many of the animals have young babies. If we go too far in one day, then all the animals will die. 14 So you should go in front of me, my lord. I will travel slowly with the animals and children, so that they are comfortable. Then, my lord, I will come to you in Seir.’
15 Esau said, ‘Then let me leave some of my men to travel with you.’ But Jacob replied, ‘You do not need to do that. All I want is for you to be happy with me.’
16 So Esau began his journey back to Seir that same day. 17 But Jacob went to Succoth instead. He built a house for himself, and he made huts for his animals. That is why the place is called Succoth.[i]
18 After Jacob left Paddan Aram, he travelled safely to Canaan. He put up his tents there, near the city of Shechem. 19 He bought the piece of ground where he had put up his tents. He paid 100 pieces of silver to Hamor's sons to buy the land. Hamor was the father of Shechem.
20 Jacob built an altar in that place. He called the altar ‘The God of Israel is the true God’.
Dinah
34 Dinah was the daughter of Leah and Jacob. One day she went out to visit the young women who lived near Shechem city. 2 Hamor the Hivite ruled that region. When his son, Shechem, saw Dinah, he took hold of her. Dinah could not get free and Shechem had sex with her. 3 He liked Dinah very much. He loved her. He spoke kind words to her so that she would love him too. 4 Shechem said to his father, Hamor, ‘I want to marry this girl. Please get her for me.’ 5 Jacob heard that Shechem had had sex with his daughter. At that time, Jacob's sons were taking care of his animals in the fields. So he did not do anything until his sons came home.
6 Shechem's father, Hamor, went to talk to Jacob about Dinah. 7 Jacob's sons now heard what had happened and they came home from the fields. They were very angry because Shechem had done such a bad thing. When he caught Dinah and had sex with her, he had brought shame on Jacob's family. It was a bad thing that nobody should ever do.
8 Hamor said to Jacob and his sons, ‘My son Shechem loves your daughter. Please give her to him so that she can be his wife. 9 There should be more marriages between your people and our people. Our men should marry your daughters and our daughters should become wives for your men. 10 Then you can live among us. You can live anywhere you want to in this land. You should live here, buy and sell things. Buy land and houses here.’[j]
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, ‘I would like to make you happy. So ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you. 12 I will pay you the gifts that you ask for Dinah. It can be as much as you like. I will pay it all, because I want to have Dinah as my wife.’
13 Because of the bad thing that Shechem had done to Dinah, Jacob's sons decided to deceive him. And they deceived his father Hamor too. 14 They said, ‘We cannot give our sister to a man who has not been circumcised. We would be ashamed to do this. 15 If you want to marry Dinah, you must do one thing. You must circumcise all your males. Then you will become like us and we will agree for you to marry Dinah. 16 Then we will give you our daughters so that your men can marry them. And our men will marry your daughters. We will live among you, so that we become one people with you. 17 But your men must agree to be circumcised. If not, we will take our sister with us and we will leave this place.’
18 This idea seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. 19 Shechem's family respected him as an important person. So Shechem and his father quickly did what Jacob's sons told them. Shechem agreed to do it because he wanted very much to marry Dinah. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of the city. They spoke to their men there. 21 They said, ‘Jacob's family are our friends. Let them live in our land, and buy and sell things. This land is big enough for them and us. We can marry their daughters, and they can marry our daughters. 22 But we must do the one thing that they have asked us to do. We must circumcise all our males in the same way that they do. If we do that, they will agree to live among us. 23 Then their things and their animals will all become our things. So we should agree to be circumcised, as they ask. Then they will live among us.’
24 All the men who were at the city gate agreed with Hamor and Shechem. So every male in the city was circumcised.
25 Three days after the men were circumcised, they still had a lot of pain. Then two of Jacob's sons attacked Shechem's men with their swords. None of the men were ready to fight. Jacob's two sons were Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers. They killed every male in the city. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and they left.
27 Jacob's other sons also saw that the men of the city were dead. So they took everything that they wanted from the city. They did that because it was the place where Shechem had done a very bad thing against their sister. 28 They took all the sheep, goats, cows and donkeys. They took everything that was in the city and in the fields near there. 29 They carried away every valuable thing for themselves. They also took all the men's wives and their children. They took everything from the houses in the city.
30 When they returned to Jacob, he said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought bad trouble to me! The people who live in this land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, will hate me. I will be like a bad smell to them. We do not have many men to fight for us. If the Perizzites and Canaanites join together and they attack us, they will destroy our whole family!’ 31 But Simeon and Levi replied, ‘Shechem should not have had sex with our sister as if she were a prostitute.’
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