Study Desk

Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed to the ground. Then Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed to the ground.

Esau said, "What do you mean by all these animals I have met?" And Jacob said, "They are a gift so I may find favor in the eyes of my lord."

But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are weak. And there are young ones in my flocks that need milk. If they are made to go a long way in one day, all the flocks will die.

Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard what had happened. They were full of sorrow and were angry. For Shechem had put Israel to shame by lying with Jacob's daughter. Such a thing should not be done.

The young man did not wait to do what they asked, because he was in love with Jacob's daughter. And he was the most honored of all his family.

So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city. And they said to the men of their city,

But the men will be willing to live with us and become one people only if every man among us goes through the religious act that they have gone through.

Will not their cattle and all they own, all their animals, be ours? Let us just do what they ask, and they will live with us."

But on the third day, when all the men were in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and went into the city in secret. And they killed every man.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword. And they took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.

They took their flocks and cattle and donkeys and whatever was in the city and in the field.

So they gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had, and the gold objects which they wore in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the tree near Shechem.

These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. They are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These are the leaders of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They are the sons of Adah.

These are the sons of Esau's son Reuel: Leaders Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the leaders of Reuel in the land of Edom. They are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

This is the story of the children of Jacob and of their children. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was caring for the flock with his brothers. The boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph told his father about how bad they were.

His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers. So they hated Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him.

Then his brothers said to him, "Are you going to be our king? Are you going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for what he said.

And the man said, "They have moved from here. For I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph followed his brothers and found them at Dothan.

And they took him and threw him into the hole. The hole was empty and had no water in it.