Old/New Testament
Jacob Meets Esau
33 When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah’s children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.[a] 2 Then he positioned the women servants and their children first, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph after them. 3 Then he went out to meet Esau,[b] passing in front of all of them, and bowed low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Then he fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
5 When Esau eventually looked around, he saw the women and the children. “Who are these people[c] with you?” he asked.
“The children, whom God has graciously given[d] your servant,” he answered. 6 Then the women servants approached, accompanied by their children, and bowed low. 7 Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low.
8 Then Esau asked, “What are all these livestock for?”
“To solicit favor from you,[e] sir,”[f] Jacob answered.
9 But Esau replied, “I already have so much, my brother, so keep what belongs to you.”
10 “Please,” Jacob implored him, “don’t refuse. If I’m to receive favor from you, then receive this gift from me, because seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have favorably accepted me. 11 So receive my blessing, which has been sent to you, since God has been gracious to me. Besides, I have enough.” Because Jacob kept pressing him, Esau accepted the gifts.
12 Then Esau suggested, “Let’s set out and travel together, but let me go in front of you.”
13 “Sir, you know[g] that the children are frail,” Jacob suggested, “and the ewes and cows with me are still nursing their young. If they’re driven even for a day, the entire flock will die. 14 So allow yourself to[h] go ahead of your servant while I travel more slowly, letting the herds set their own pace[i] with the children until I arrive to see my lord in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”
“Why do that?” Jacob asked. “I’ve already found favor in your sight, sir.”[j] 16 So Esau set out that very day back on his way to Seir, 17 but Jacob set out for Succoth, built a house there, and constructed some cattle shelters. He named the place Succoth.[k]
Jacob Buys Land in Shechem
18 After Jacob had arrived safely from Paddan-aram,[l] he entered the city of Shechem, which was located in the territory of Canaan, and encamped facing that city. 19 Then he bought a parcel of land for 100 pieces of silver from the descendants of Hamor, Shechem’s father. He pitched his tent there, 20 set up an altar, and named it El-elohe-israel.[m]
Jacob’s Daughter Dinah is Raped
34 Some time later, Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women[n] of the land. 2 When Hamor the Hivite’s son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her. 3 He was attached to[o] Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, since he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.[p] 4 Then Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get this young woman[q] for me to be my wife.”
5 Because Jacob learned that Shechem had dishonored his daughter Dinah while his sons were still out with their cattle on the open range, he remained silent until they returned. 6 Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor arrived to talk to Jacob. 7 Just then Jacob’s sons arrived from the field. When they heard what had happened, they were distraught with grief and livid with anger toward Shechem,[r] because he had committed a disgraceful deed in Israel by forcing Jacob’s daughter to have sex, an act that never should have happened.
8 But Hamor said this: “My son is deeply attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9 Intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us and take our sons for yourselves. 10 Live with us anywhere you want.[s] Live, trade, and grow rich in it.”
11 Shechem also addressed Dinah’s[t] father and brothers. He told them, “If you’ll just approve me, I’ll give whatever you ask of me. 12 No matter how big or how extensive your demands are for a dowry and wedding presents from me, I’ll provide whatever you ask. Only give me the young lady to be my wife.”
Jacob’s Sons Plot Revenge
13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceptively, because Shechem had dishonored their sister Dinah. 14 They told them, “We can’t do this. We can’t give our sister to a man who isn’t circumcised, because that would be insulting to us. 15 But we’ll agree to your request, only if you will become like us by circumcising every male among you. 16 Then we’ll give our daughters to you and take your daughters for ourselves, live among you, and be as a united people. 17 But if you won’t listen to us, then we’re going to take our daughter and leave.” 18 What they said pleased Hamor and his son Shechem, 19 so the young man did not delay the matter any further, since he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.
Now Shechem was the most important person in his father’s household. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem entered the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city. 21 “These men are at peace with us,” they announced. “Therefore, let them live in the land and trade in it. Look! The land is large enough for them. Let’s take their daughters as wives for ourselves and let’s give our sons to them.
22 “However,” they added, “only on this condition will the men consent to live with us and be united as a single people with us: every male among us will have to be circumcised just as they are. 23 Shouldn’t all their cattle, acquisitions, and animals belong to us? So, let’s give our consent to them, and then they’ll live with us.”
Simeon and Levi Attack Shechem
24 All of the males who heard Hamor and his son Shechem, who had gone out to the city gate, were circumcised. 25 Three days later, while they were still in pain, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s brothers, each grabbed a sword and entered the city unannounced, intending to kill all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took back Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left. 27 Jacob’s other sons came along afterward and plundered the city where their sister had been defiled, 28 seizing all of their flocks, herds, donkeys, and whatever else was in the city or had been left out in the field. 29 They carried off all their wealth, their children, and their wives as captives, plundering everything that remained in the houses.
30 Then Jacob told Simeon and Levi, “You have certainly stirred up trouble for me! You’ve made me despised by[u] the Canaanites and the Perizzites who live in this territory. Because I have only a few men with me, they’re going to gather themselves together and attack me until I am totally destroyed, along with my entire household!”
31 “Should he have treated our sister like a whore?” they asked in response.
Jacob Moves to Bethel
35 Later, God told Jacob, “Get up, move to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
2 Jacob announced to his household and to everyone with him, “Throw away the foreign gods that you’ve kept among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. 3 Then let’s get up and go to Bethel, where I’ll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went.”
4 So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending,[v] along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem. 5 As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the[w] cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
6 Eventually, Jacob and everyone with him arrived at Luz (also called Beth-el) in the territory of Canaan. 7 He built an altar there to God and named the place El Beth-el, because God had revealed himself there when he was fleeing from his brother. 8 Rebekah’s nurse Deborah died and was buried there, under the oak tree that was below Beth-el. That’s why the place was named Allon-bacuth.[x]
God Appears Again to Jacob
9 God appeared again to Jacob after he had arrived from Paddan-aram[y] and blessed him. 10 Then God told him,
“Your name is Jacob.
No longer are you to be called Jacob.
Instead, your name will be Israel.”
So God called his name Israel 11 and also told him,
“I am God Almighty.
You are to be fruitful
and multiply.
You will become a nation—
in fact, an assembly of nations!
Kings will come from you—
they’ll emerge from your own loins!
12 Now as for the land
that I gave to Abraham and Isaac,
I’m giving it to you
and to your descendants who come after you.
I’m giving the land to you!”
13 After this, God ascended from the place where he had been speaking to him. 14 Jacob erected a pillar of stone at that very place where God had spoken to him. He poured a drink offering over it, anointed it with oil, 15 and named the place where God had spoken to him Beth-el.
Rachel Dies in Childbirth
16 Later, they set out from Beth-el. While still a long way[z] from Ephrathah, Rachel started to have trouble giving birth. 17 While she was suffering due to her difficult labor, the midwife told her, “Don’t fear! You’re going to have another son.”
18 Just before she died,[aa] Rachel called her son’s[ab] name Ben-oni,[ac] but his father Jacob[ad] named him Benjamin.[ae] 19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrathah, also known as Bethlehem. 20 Jacob erected a pillar over her grave, and that pillar stands over Rachel’s grave to this day.
Jacob Settles Near Migdal Eder
21 Jacob continued his travels, and eventually pitched his tent facing Migdal Eder. 22 But while Israel lived in that land, Reuben went inside his father’s tent[af] and had sexual relations with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now Jacob had twelve sons. 23 Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s first-born), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin. 25 Rachel’s servant Bilhah’s sons were Dan and Naphtali. 26 Leah’s servant Zilpah’s sons were Gad and Asher. These were Jacob’s sons who were born to him while he lived in Paddan-aram.[ag]
The Death of Isaac
27 So Jacob reached his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived. 28 Isaac had lived a total of 180 years 29 when he died and joined his ancestors at a ripe old age. Then his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Jesus Appoints Twelve Apostles(A)
10 Then Jesus[a] called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean spirits, so that they could drive them out and heal every disease and every illness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;[b] 4 Simon the Cananaean[c] and Judas Iscariot, who later[d] betrayed Jesus.[e]
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Disciples(B)
5 These were the Twelve whom Jesus sent out after he had given them these[f] instructions: “Don’t turn on to the road that leads to the unbelievers,[g] and don’t enter Samaritan towns. 6 Instead, go to the lost sheep of the nation[h] of Israel. 7 As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom from[i] heaven is near!’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
You have received without payment,
so give without payment.
9 Don’t take any gold, silver, or copper in your moneybags, 10 or a traveling bag for the trip, or an extra shirt,[j] or sandals, or a walking stick, because a worker deserves his food.
11 “Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is receptive[k] in it and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet its occupants.[l] 13 If the household is receptive,[m] let your blessing of peace come on it. But if it isn’t receptive,[n] let your blessing of peace return to you. 14 If no one welcomes you or listens to your words, as you leave that house or town, shake its dust off your feet. 15 I tell all of you[o] with certainty, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!”
Future Persecutions(C)
16 “Pay attention, now! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves. 17 Watch out for people who will hand you over to the local councils and whip you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought before governors and kings because of me, to testify to them and to unbelievers.[p] 19 When they hand you over, don’t worry about how you are to speak[q] or what you are to say, because in that hour what you are to say will be given to you. 20 It won’t be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through[r] you.
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