Study Desk

So they destroyed all the wells that Isaac's father Abraham and his servants had dug many years before. They filled them with sand.

So Isaac gave a party for them. They all ate and drank.

On that day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. The servants said, "We found water in that well."

You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.

But they said, "We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered together. Then we will move the rock from the well, and all the sheep will drink."

So the sons took all the spotted animals and led them to another place. They traveled for three days. Jacob stayed and took care of all the animals that were left.

One day Jacob heard Laban's sons talking. They said, "Jacob has taken everything that our father owned. He has become rich—and he has taken all this wealth from our father."

Jacob took his family and everything he owned and left quickly. They crossed the Euphrates River and traveled toward the hill country of Gilead.

He told his men to find some more rocks and to make a pile of rocks. Then they ate beside the pile of rocks.

Then Jacob killed an animal and offered it as a sacrifice on the mountain. And he invited his men to come and share a meal. After they finished eating, they spent the night on the mountain.

When Esau saw Jacob, he ran to meet him. He put his arms around Jacob, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both cried.

Then the two maids and the children with them went to Esau. They bowed down before him.

Hamor and Shechem went to the meeting place of their city. They spoke to the men of the city and said,

If we do this, we will become rich from all their cattle and other animals. We should make this agreement with them so that they will stay here with us."

Three days later the men who were circumcised were still sore. Two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, knew that the men would be weak at this time. So they went to the city and killed all the men there.

Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, killed Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah out of Shechem's house and left.

The brothers took everything those people owned. They even took their wives and children.

So the people gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had, and they gave him all the rings they were wearing in their ears. He buried everything under an oak tree near the town called Shechem.

Then Jacob and his sons left that place. The people in the surrounding cities wanted to follow and kill them, but God filled them with such great fear that they did not go after them.

Jacob and his group left Bethel. Before they came to Ephrath, Rachel began giving birth to her baby.