Holman Christian Standard Bible (12 page)

31
 Jacob answered, “I was afraid, for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
32
 If you find your gods with anyone here, he will not live! Before our relatives, point out anything that is yours and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the idols.

33
 So Laban went into Jacob's tent, then Leah's tent, and then the tents of the two female slaves, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah's tent and entered Rachel's.
34
 Now Rachel had taken Laban's household idols, put them in the saddlebag of the camel, and sat on them. Laban searched the whole tent but found nothing.

35
 She said to her father, “Sir, don't be angry that I cannot stand up in your presence; I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.

Jacob's Covenant with Laban

36
 Then Jacob became incensed and brought charges against Laban. “What is my crime? ” he said to Laban. “What is my sin, that you have pursued me?
37
 You've searched all my possessions! Have you found anything of yours? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them decide between the two of us.
38
 I've been with you these 20 years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams from your flock.
39
 I did not bring you any of the flock torn by wild beasts; I myself bore the loss. You demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or by night.
40
 There I was — the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
41
 For 20 years I have worked in your household — 14 years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks  — and you have changed my wages 10 times!
42
 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night.”

43
 Then Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks! Everything you see is mine! But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?
44
 Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I. Let it be a witness between the two of us.”

45
 So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a marker. 
46
 Then Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a mound, then ate there by the mound.
47
 Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob named it Galeed. 

48
 Then Laban said, “This mound is a witness between you and me today.” Therefore the place was called Galeed
49
 and also Mizpah, for he said, “May the
Lord
watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.
50
 If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me.” 
51
 Laban also said to Jacob, “Look at this mound and the marker I have set up between you and me.
52
 This mound is a witness and the marker is a witness that I will not pass beyond this mound to you, and you will not pass beyond this mound and this marker to do me harm.
53
 The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor — the gods of their father  — will judge between us.” And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
54
 Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. So they ate a meal and spent the night on the mountain.
55
 Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban left to return home.

Genesis

Preparing to Meet Esau

32
Jacob went on his way, and God's angels met him. 
2
 When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God's camp.” So he called that place Mahanaim.

3
 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4
 He commanded them, “You are to say to my lord Esau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says. I have been staying with Laban and have been delayed until now.
5
 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I have sent this message to inform my lord, in order to seek your favor.' ” 

6
 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you — and he has 400 men with him.” 
7
 Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; he divided the people with him into two camps, along with the flocks, cattle, and camels.
8
 He thought, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining one can escape.” 

9
 Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the
Lord
who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your family, and I will cause you to prosper,' 
10
 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.
11
 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.
12
 You have said, ‘I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your
•offspring
like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.' ” 

13
 He spent the night there and took part of what he had brought with him as a gift for his brother Esau: 
14
 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
15
 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.
16
 He entrusted them to his slaves as separate herds and said to them, “Go on ahead of me, and leave some distance between the herds.”

17
 And he told the first one: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? And whose animals are these ahead of you? '
18
 then tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And look, he is behind us.' ”

19
 He also told the second one, the third, and everyone who was walking behind the animals, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.
20
 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.”

21
 So the gift was sent on ahead of him while he remained in the camp that night.
22
 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his 11 sons, and crossed the ford of Jabbok. 
23
 He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

Jacob Wrestles with God

24
 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 
25
 When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob's hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip.
26
 Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”

27
 “What is your name? ” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied.

28
 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

29
 Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

But He answered, “Why do you ask My name? ” And He blessed him there.

30
 Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and I have been delivered.” 
31
 The sun shone on him as he passed by Penuel — limping because of his hip.
32
 That is why, to this day, the Israelites don't eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket: because He struck Jacob's hip socket at the thigh muscle. 

Genesis

Jacob Meets Esau

33
Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves.
2
 He put the female slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
3
 He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother.

4
 But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept. 
5
 When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you? ”

He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.” 
6
 Then the female slaves and their children approached him and bowed down.
7
 Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.

8
 So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met? ” 

“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered.

9
 “I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.”

10
 But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God's face, since you have accepted me.
11
 Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted.

12
 Then Esau said, “Let's move on, and I'll go ahead of you.”

13
 Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die.
14
 Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”

15
 Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.”

But he replied, “Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord.” 

16
 That day Esau started on his way back to Seir,
17
 but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

18
 After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city.
19
 He purchased a section of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for 100
qesitahs
.
20
 And he set up an altar there and called it “God, the God of Israel.” 

Genesis

Dinah Defiled

34
Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area.
2
 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.
3
 He became infatuated with Dinah, daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her. 
4
 “Get me this girl as a wife,” he told his father Hamor.

5
 Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned.
6
 Meanwhile, Shechem's father Hamor came to speak with Jacob.
7
 Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident and were deeply grieved and angry. For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by raping Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done.

8
 Hamor said to Jacob's sons, “My son Shechem is strongly attracted to your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9
 Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
10
 Live with us. The land is before you. Settle here, move about, and acquire property in it.”

11
 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I'll give you whatever you say.
12
 Demand of me a high compensation and gift; I'll give you whatever you ask me. Just give the girl to be my wife! ”

13
 But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defiled their sister Dinah.
14
 “We cannot do this thing,” they said to them. “Giving our sister to an uncircumcised man is a disgrace to us.
15
 We will agree with you only on this condition: if all your males are circumcised as we are. 
16
 Then we will give you our daughters, take your daughters for ourselves, live with you, and become one people.
17
 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”

18
 Their words seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19
 The young man did not delay doing this, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most important in all his father's house.
20
 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the
•gate
of their city and spoke to the men there.

21
 “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.
22
 But the men will agree to live with us and be one people only on this condition: if all our men are circumcised as they are.
23
 Won't their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us.”