Study Desk

Please rescue me from my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.

He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau:

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me. After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me.”

Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”

But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from me. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me.

Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing flocks and herds. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.

but Jacob went to Succoth. He built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

He purchased a section of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.

Jacob’s sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident and were deeply grieved and very angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob’s daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people.

“These men are peaceful toward us,” they said. “Let them live in our land and move about in it, for indeed, the region is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as our wives and give our daughters to them.

During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.”

With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

For their possessions were too many for them to live together, and because of their herds, the land where they stayed could not support them.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.

A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.