Study Desk

Then say to him, These are your servant Jacob's; they are an offering for my lord, for Esau; and he himself is coming after us.

And Leah came near with her children, and then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same.

And he said, What were all those herds which I saw on the way? And Jacob said, They were an offering so that I might have grace in my lord's eyes.

Now Jacob had word of what Shechem had done to his daughter; but his sons were in the fields with the cattle, and Jacob said nothing till they came.

Now the sons of Jacob came in from the fields when they had news of it, and they were wounded and very angry because of the shame he had done in Israel by having connection with Jacob's daughter; and they said, Such a thing is not to be done.

And they said, It is not possible for us to give our sister to one who is without circumcision, for that would be a cause of shame to us:

And without loss of time the young man did as they said, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was the noblest of his father's house.

But these men will make an agreement with us to go on living with us and to become one people, only on the condition that every male among us undergoes circumcision as they have done.

Then will not their cattle and their goods and all their beasts be ours? so let us come to an agreement with them so that they may go on living with us.

And Hamor and his son they put to death with the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.

And the sons of Jacob came on them when they were wounded and made waste the town because of what had been done to their sister;

They took their flocks and their herds and their asses and everything in their town and in their fields,

And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives; everything in their houses they took and made them waste.

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.

Then they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob put them away under the holy tree at Shechem.

So they went on their journey: and the fear of God was on the towns round about, so that they made no attack on the sons of Jacob.

And Deborah, the servant who had taken care of Rebekah from her birth, came to her end, and was put to rest near Beth-el, under the holy tree: and they gave it the name of Allon-bacuth.

So they went on from Beth-el; and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, the pains of birth came on Rachel and she had a hard time.

Now while they were living in that country, Reuben had connection with Bilhah, his father's servant-woman: and Israel had news of it.

And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: they were the children of Esau's wife Basemath.