Study Desk

Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." And they took stones and made a mound [of stones], and they ate [a ceremonial meal together] there on the mound [of stones].

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice [to the LORD] on the mountain, and called his relatives to the meal; and they ate food and spent the night on the mountain.

then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.'"

But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].

Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So Jacob replied, "They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down.

Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.

Now when Jacob's sons heard of it they came in from the field; they were deeply grieved, and they were very angry, for Shechem had done a disgraceful thing to Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing is not to be done.

They said to them, "We cannot do this thing and give our sister [in marriage] to one who is not circumcised, because that would be a disgrace to us.

"But only on this condition will the men consent to our request that they live among us and become one people: that every male among us become circumcised just as they are circumcised.

"Will not their cattle and their possessions and all their animals be ours [if we do this]? Let us consent [to do as they ask], and they will live here with us."

Now on the third day [after the circumcision], when all the men were [terribly] sore and in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's [full] brothers, took their swords, boldly entered the city [without anyone suspecting them of evil intent], and they killed every male.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house [where she was staying], and left.

They took the Canaanites' flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field;

they looted all their wealth, and [took captive] all their children and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

As they journeyed, there was a great [supernatural] terror [sent from God] on the cities around them, and [for that reason] the Canaanites did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath (Bethlehem), Rachel began to give birth and had difficulty and suffered severely.

For their [great flocks and herds and] possessions made it impossible for them to live together [in the same region]; the land in which they lived temporarily could not support them because of their livestock.

Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; they are the sons of Adah.