Chronological Plan

¹Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him].

²When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp." So he named that place Mahanaim ( double camps).

³Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

⁴He commanded them, saying, "This is what to say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says this, "I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now;

⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants; and I have sent [this message] to tell my lord, so that I may find grace and kindness in your sight."'"

⁶The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him."

⁷Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps;

⁸and he said, "If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape."

⁹Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,'

¹⁰I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people].

¹¹Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

¹²And You [LORD] said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.'"

¹³So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired:

¹⁴two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten [donkey] colts.

¹⁶He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds."

¹⁷Then he commanded the one in front, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, and where you are going, and whose are the animals in front of you?

¹⁸then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.'"

¹⁹And so Jacob commanded the second and the third as well, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him;

²⁰and you shall say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he said [to himself], "I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me."

²¹So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.

²²But he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and waded over the ford of the Jabbok.

²³Then he took them and sent them across the brook. And he also sent across whatever he had.

²⁴So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak.

²⁵When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him.

²⁶Then He said, "Let Me go, for day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me."

²⁷So He asked him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

²⁸And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

²⁹Then Jacob asked Him, "Please tell me Your name." But He said, "Why is it that you ask My name?" And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, "For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away."

³¹Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip.

³²Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob's thigh by the tendon of the hip.

¹Then Jacob looked up, and saw Esau coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.

²He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.

³Then Jacob crossed over [the stream] ahead of them and bowed himself to the ground seven times [bowing and moving forward each time], until he approached his brother.

⁴But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept [for joy].

⁵Esau 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."

⁶Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down.

⁷Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.

⁸Esau asked, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?" And he answered, "[These are] to find favor in the sight of my lord."

⁹But Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."

¹⁰Jacob replied, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift [as a blessing] from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

¹¹Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want]." So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

¹²Then Esau said, "Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you [to lead the way]."

¹³But Jacob replied, "You know, my lord, that the children are frail and need gentle care, and the nursing flocks and herds [with young] are of concern to me; for if the men should drive them hard for a single day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴Please let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, governed by the pace of the livestock that are in front of me and according to the endurance of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir [in Edom]."

¹⁵Then Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But Jacob said, " What need is there [for it]? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."

¹⁶So Esau turned back [toward the south] that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed [north] to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).

¹⁸When Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the [walled] city.

¹⁹Then he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.

²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

¹Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out [unescorted] to visit the girls of the land.

²When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her].

³But his soul longed for and clung to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke comfortingly to her young heart's wishes.

⁴So Shechem said to his father Hamor, "Get me this young woman as a wife."

⁵Now Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled (violated) Dinah his daughter; but his sons were in the field with his livestock, so Jacob said nothing until they came in.

⁶But Shechem's father Hamor went to Jacob to talk with him.

⁷Now 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.

⁸But Hamor conferred with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem [deeply] longs for your daughter [and sister]. Please give her to him as his wife.

⁹And [beyond that] intermarry with us; give your daughters to us [as wives] and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰In this way you shall live with us; the country will be open to you; live and do business in it and acquire property and possessions in it."

¹¹Shechem also said to Dinah's father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your sight, and I will give you whatever you ask of me.

¹²Demand of me a very large bridal payment and gift [as compensation for giving up your daughter and sister], and I will give you whatever you tell me; only give me the girl to be my wife."

¹³Jacob's sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled and disgraced their sister Dinah.

¹⁴They 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.

¹⁵But we will consent to you only on this condition: if you will become like us, in that every male among you consents to be circumcised,

¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you [in marriage], and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

¹⁷But if you do not listen to us and refuse to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter [Dinah] and go."

¹⁸Their words seemed reasonable to Hamor and his son Shechem,

¹⁹and the young man did not hesitate to do the [required] thing, for he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was more respected and honored than all [others] in the household of his father.

²⁰Then Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their [walled] city [where the leading men would meet] and spoke with the men of the city, saying,

²¹"These men are peaceful and friendly with us; so let them live in the land and do business in it, for the land is large enough [for us and] for them; let us take their daughters for wives and let us give them our daughters [in marriage].

²²But 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.

²³Will 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."

²⁴And every [Canaanite] man who went out of the city gate listened and considered what Hamor and Shechem said; and every male who was a resident of that city was circumcised.

²⁵Now 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.

²⁶They 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.

²⁷Then Jacob's [other] sons came upon those who were killed and looted the town, because their sister had been defiled and disgraced.

²⁸They took the Canaanites' flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field;

²⁹they looted all their wealth, and [took captive] all their children and their wives, even everything that was in the houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have ruined me, making me a stench to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites! My men are few in number, and the men of the land will band together against me and attack me; I shall be destroyed, I and my household."

³¹But they said, "Should he [be permitted to] treat our sister as a prostitute?"