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13-15 After spending the night there, Jacob chose from his livestock as a present for his brother Esau: 200 female goats and 20 males, 200 female sheep and 20 males, 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 males. 16 He divided them into herds and put one of his servants in charge of each herd. He said to them, “Go ahead of me, and leave a space between each herd and the one behind it.” 17 He ordered the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these animals in front of you?’ 18 you must answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sends them as a present to his master Esau. Jacob himself is right behind us.’” 19 He gave the same order to the second, the third, and to all the others who were in charge of the herds: “This is what you must say to Esau when you meet him. 20 You must say, ‘Yes, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob was thinking, “I will win him over with the gifts, and when I meet him, perhaps he will forgive me.” 21 He sent the gifts on ahead of him and spent that night in camp.
Jacob Wrestles at Peniel
22 That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the Jabbok River. 23 (A)After he had sent them across, he also sent across all that he owned, 24 (B)but he stayed behind, alone.
Then a man came and wrestled with him until just before daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he was not winning the struggle, he hit Jacob on the hip, and it was thrown out of joint. 26 The man said, “Let me go; daylight is coming.”
“I won't, unless you bless me,” Jacob answered.
27 “What is your name?” the man asked.
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 (C)The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel.”[a]
29 (D)Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”
But he answered, “Why do you want to know my name?” Then he blessed Jacob.
30 Jacob said, “I have seen God face-to-face, and I am still alive”; so he named the place Peniel.[b] 31 The sun rose as Jacob was leaving Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Even today the descendants of Israel do not eat the muscle which is on the hip joint, because it was on this muscle that Jacob was hit.
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men, so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two concubines. 2 He put the concubines and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph at the rear. 3 Jacob went ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They were both crying. 5 When Esau looked around and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?”
“These, sir, are the children whom God has been good enough to give me,” Jacob answered. 6 Then the concubines came up with their children and bowed down; 7 then Leah and her children came, and last of all Joseph and Rachel came and bowed down.
8 Esau asked, “What about that other group I met? What did that mean?”
Jacob answered, “It was to gain your favor.”
9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have.”
10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have gained your favor, accept my gift. To see your face is for me like seeing the face of God, now that you have been so friendly to me. 11 Please accept this gift which I have brought for you; God has been kind to me and given me everything I need.” Jacob kept on urging him until he accepted.
12 Esau said, “Let's get ready and leave. I will go ahead of you.”
13 Jacob answered, “You know that the children are weak, and I must think of the sheep and livestock with their young. If they are driven hard for even one day, the whole herd will die. 14 Please go on ahead of me, and I will follow slowly, going as fast as I can with the livestock and the children until I catch up with you in Edom.”
15 Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”
But Jacob answered, “There is no need for that for I only want to gain your favor.”[c] 16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Edom. 17 But Jacob went to Sukkoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Sukkoth.[d]
18 On his return from Mesopotamia Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan and set up his camp in a field near the city. 19 (E)He bought that part of the field from the descendants of Hamor father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. 20 He put up an altar there and named it for El, the God of Israel.
The Rape of Dinah
34 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the Canaanite women. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of that region, saw her, he took her and raped her. 3 But he found the young woman so attractive that he fell in love with her and tried to win her affection.[e] 4 He told his father, “I want you to get Dinah for me as my wife.”
5 Jacob learned that his daughter had been disgraced, but because his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he did nothing until they came back. 6 Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob, 7 just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard about it, they were shocked and furious that Shechem had done such a thing and had insulted the people of Israel by raping Jacob's daughter. 8 Hamor said to him, “My son Shechem has fallen in love with your daughter; please let him marry her. 9 Let us make an agreement that there will be intermarriage between our people and yours. 10 Then you may stay here in our country with us; you may live anywhere you wish, trade freely, and own property.”
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Do me this favor, and I will give you whatever you want. 12 Tell me what presents you want, and set the payment for the bride as high as you wish; I will give you whatever you ask, if you will only let me marry her.”
13 Because Shechem had disgraced their sister Dinah, Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor in a deceitful way. 14 They said to him, “We cannot let our sister marry a man who is not circumcised; that would be a disgrace for us. 15 We can agree only on the condition that you become like us by circumcising all your males. 16 Then we will agree to intermarriage. We will settle among you and become one people with you. 17 But if you will not accept our terms and be circumcised, we will take her and leave.”
18 These terms seemed fair to Hamor and his son Shechem, 19 and the young man lost no time in doing what was suggested, because he was in love with Jacob's daughter. He was the most important member of his family.
20 Hamor and his son Shechem went to the meeting place at the city gate and spoke to the people of the town: 21 “These men are friendly; let them live in the land with us and travel freely. The land is large enough for them also. Let us marry their daughters and give them ours in marriage. 22 But these men will agree to live among us and be one people with us only on the condition that we circumcise all our males, as they are circumcised. 23 Won't all their livestock and everything else they own be ours? So let us agree that they can live among us.” 24 All the citizens of the city agreed with what Hamor and Shechem proposed, and all the males were circumcised.
25 Three days later, when the men were still sore from their circumcision, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, took their swords, went into the city without arousing suspicion, and killed all the men, 26 including Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and left. 27 After the slaughter Jacob's other sons looted the town to take revenge for their sister's disgrace. 28 They took the flocks, the cattle, the donkeys, and everything else in the city and in the fields. 29 They took everything of value, captured all the women and children, and carried off everything in the houses.
30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have gotten me into trouble; now the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and everybody else in the land will hate me. I do not have many men; if they all band together against me and attack me, our whole family will be destroyed.”
31 But they answered, “We cannot let our sister be treated like a common whore.”
7 While John's disciples were leaving, Jesus spoke about him to the crowds: “When you went out to John in the desert, what did you expect to see? A blade of grass bending in the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed up in fancy clothes? People who dress like that live in palaces! 9 Tell me, what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet. 10 (A)For John is the one of whom the scripture says: ‘God said, I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.’ 11 I assure you that John the Baptist is greater than anyone who has ever lived. But the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John. 12 (B)From the time John preached his message until this very day the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violent attacks,[a] and violent men try to seize it. 13 Until the time of John all the prophets and the Law of Moses spoke about the Kingdom; 14 (C)and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted. 15 Listen, then, if you have ears!
16 “Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other, 17 ‘We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn't dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn't cry!’ 18 When John came, he fasted and drank no wine, and everyone said, ‘He has a demon in him!’ 19 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank, and everyone said, ‘Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!’ God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by its results.”
The Unbelieving Towns(D)
20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns. 21 (E)“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago put on sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! 22 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon than to you! 23 (F)And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would still be in existence today! 24 (G)You can be sure that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to you!”
Come to Me and Rest(H)
25 At that time Jesus said, “Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned. 26 Yes, Father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen.
27 (I)“My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 (J)“Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 (K)Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. 30 For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light.”
Human Wickedness[a](A)
14 (B)Fools say to themselves,
“There is no God!”
They are all corrupt,
and they have done terrible things;
there is no one who does what is right.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven at us humans
to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
3 But they have all gone wrong;
they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right,
not a single one.
4 “Don't they know?” asks the Lord.
“Are all these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
and they never pray to me.”
5 But then they will be terrified,
for God is with those who obey him.
6 Evildoers frustrate the plans of the humble,
but the Lord is their protection.
7 How I pray that victory
will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
when the Lord makes them prosperous again!
19 The Lord created the earth by his wisdom;
by his knowledge he set the sky in place.
20 His wisdom caused the rivers to flow
and the clouds to give rain to the earth.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.