Study Desk

Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(C1)the angels of God met him.

And when he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's ^(F1)camp." So he named that place ^(F2)(C1)Mahanaim.

Then Jacob ^(C1)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of ^(C2)Seir, the ^(F1)country of ^(C3)Edom.

He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says the following: "I have resided with Laban, and ^(C1)stayed until now;

and ^(C1)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, ^(C2)so that I may find favor in your sight."'"

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ^(C1)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

Then Jacob was ^(C1)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

for he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and ^(F1)attacks it, then the company which is left will escape."

Then Jacob said, "^(C1)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD, who said to me, '^(C2)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^(F1)make you prosper,'

^(F1)I am unworthy ^(C1)of all the ^(F2)favor and of all the ^(F3)faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

"^(C1)Save me, please, ^(C2)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^(F1)attack me and the ^(C3)mothers with the children.

"For You said, '^(C1)I will assuredly ^(F1)make you prosper and ^(C2)make your ^(F2)descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.'"

So he spent the night there. Then he ^(F1)selected from what ^(F2)he had with him a ^(C1)gift for his brother Esau:

two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

Then he placed them in the ^(F1)care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks."

And he commanded the ^(F1)one in front, saying, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?'

then you shall say, 'These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.'"

Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, "In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

and you shall say, 'Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.'" For he said, "I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me."

So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the ^(C1)Jabbok.

He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^(C1)wrestled with him until daybreak.

When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of ^(F1)Jacob's hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

Then he said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." But he said, "^(C1)I will not let you go unless you bless me."

So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

Then ^(C1)he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ^(F1)Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed."

And ^(C1)Jacob asked him and said, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And he blessed him there.

So Jacob named the place ^(F1)Peniel, for he said, "^(C1)I have seen God face to face, yet my ^(F2)life has been ^(F3)spared."

Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^(C1)Penuel, and he was limping on his hip.

Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip in the tendon of the hip.

Then Jacob raised his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(C1)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ^(F1)among Leah and Rachel, and the two slave women.

He put the slave women and their children ^(F1)in front, and Leah and her children ^(F2)next, and Rachel and Joseph ^(F2)last.

But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^(C1)bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(C1)fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

He raised his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, "^(F1)Who are these with you?" So he said, "^(C1)The children whom God has graciously given your servant."

Then the slave women came forward ^(F1)with their children, and they bowed down.

And Leah likewise came forward with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed down.

And he said, "What do you mean by ^(C1)all this company which I have met?" And he said, "^(C2)To find favor in the sight of my lord."

But Esau said, "^(C1)I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own."

Jacob said, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand, ^(F1)for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

"Please accept my ^(F1)(C1)gift which has been brought to you, ^(C2)because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ^(F2)plenty." So he urged him, and he accepted it.

Then ^(F1)Esau said, "Let's journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you."

But he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds that are nursing are ^(F1)a matter of concern to me. And if they are driven hard just one day, all the flocks will die.

"Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will proceed at my leisure, at the pace of the cattle that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^(C1)Seir."

Then Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But he said, "^(F1)What need is there? ^(C1)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."

So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

But Jacob journeyed to ^(F1)(C1)Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^(C1)Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^(C2)Paddan-aram, and camped before the city.

^(C1)He bought the plot of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred ^(F1)pieces of money.

Then he erected there an altar and called it ^(F1)El-Elohe-Israel.

Now ^(C1)Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to ^(F1)visit the daughters of the land.

When Shechem the son of Hamor ^(C1)the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and raped her.

But ^(F1)he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and ^(F2)spoke tenderly to her.

So Shechem ^(C1)spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get me this young woman as a wife."

Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah; but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob said nothing until they came in.

Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard about it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a ^(F1)(C1)disgraceful thing in Israel by ^(F2)sleeping with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

But Hamor spoke with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him ^(F1)in marriage.

"And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves.

"So you will live with us, and ^(C1)the land shall be ^(F1)open to you; live and ^(C2)trade in it and ^(C3)acquire property in it."

Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give whatever you tell me.

"Demand of me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give whatever you tell me; but give me the girl ^(F1)in marriage."

But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, that is, give our sister to a ^(C1)man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

"Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you will be circumcised,

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

"But if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

Now their words seemed ^(F1)reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.

The young man did not delay to do ^(F1)this, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.

So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the ^(C1)gate of their city and spoke to the people of their city, saying,

"These men are ^(F1)friendly to us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is ^(F2)large enough for them. We will take their daughters ^(F3)in marriage, and give our daughters to them.

"Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

"Will their livestock and their property and all their animals not be ours? Let's just consent to them, and they will live with us."

^(C1)All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons—^(C1)Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers—each took his sword and came upon the city undetected, and killed every male.

They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house, and left.

Jacob's sons came upon those killed and looted the city, because they had defiled their sister.

They took their flocks, their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field;

and they captured and looted all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have ^(C1)brought trouble on me by ^(C2)making me repulsive among the inhabitants of the land, among ^(C3)the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and ^(F1)(C4)since my men are few in number, they will band together against me and ^(F2)attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household!"

But they said, "Should he ^(F1)treat our sister like a prostitute?"

Then God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to ^(C1)Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to ^(C2)God, who appeared to you ^(C3)when you fled ^(F1)from your brother Esau."

So Jacob said to his ^(C1)household and to all who were with him, "Remove ^(C2)the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(C3)purify yourselves and change your garments;

and let's arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make ^(C1)an altar there to God, ^(C2)who answered me on the day of my distress and ^(C3)has been with me ^(F1)wherever I have gone."

So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which ^(F1)they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the ^(F2)oak which was near Shechem.

As they journeyed, there was ^(F1)(C1)a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

So Jacob came to ^(C1)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

Then ^(C1)he built an altar there, and called the place ^(F1)El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled ^(F2)from his brother.

Now ^(C1)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and it was named ^(F1)Allon-bacuth.

Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He ^(C1)blessed him.

^(C1)God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; ^(F1)You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name." So He called ^(F2)him Israel.

Footnotes:  

Cross References:  

God also said to him, "I am ^(F1)(C1)God Almighty; ^(C2)Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a ^(C3)multitude of nations shall ^(F2)come from you, And ^(C4)kings shall ^(F2)come from ^(F3)you.

-"And ^(C1)the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you, And I will give the land to your ^(F1)descendants after you."

Then ^(C1)God went up from him at the place where He had spoken with him.

So Jacob set up ^(C1)a memorial stone in the place where He had spoken with him, a memorial of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

And Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, ^(F1)(C1)Bethel.

Then they journeyed on from Bethel; but when there was still some distance to go to ^(C1)Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe difficulties in her labor.

And when she was suffering severe difficulties in her labor, the midwife said to her, "Do not fear, for ^(C1)you have another son!"

And it came about, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him ^(F1)Ben-oni; but his father called him ^(F2)Benjamin.

So ^(C1)Rachel died and was buried on the way to ^(C2)Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

And Jacob set up a memorial stone over her grave; that is the ^(C1)memorial stone of Rachel's grave to this day.

Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the ^(F1)(C1)tower of ^(F2)Eder.

And it came about, while Israel was living in that land, that ^(C1)Reuben went and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob—

Footnotes:  

Cross References:  

^(C1)the sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun;

^(C1)the sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin;

and ^(C1)the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's female slave, were Dan and Naphtali;

and ^(C1)the sons of Zilpah, Leah's female slave, were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Jacob came to his father Isaac at ^(C1)Mamre of ^(C2)Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had resided.

Now the days of Isaac were ^(C1)180 years.

Then Isaac breathed his last and died, and was ^(C1)gathered to his people, an ^(C2)old man ^(F1)of ripe age; and ^(C3)his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.