Jacob Meets Esau
1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, oEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. 2 And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. 3 He himself went on before them, pbowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 qBut Esau ran to meet him and embraced him rand fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, s“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. 8 Esau said, “What do you mean by tall this company1 that I met?” Jacob answered, u“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” 10 Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. vFor I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. 11 Please accept my wblessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he xurged him, and he took it.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of2 you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. 14 Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord yin Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? zLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to aSeir. 17 But Jacob journeyed to bSuccoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.3
18 And Jacob came safely4 to the city of cShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of dHamor, Shechem’s father, ehe bought for a hundred pieces of money5 the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.6
The Defiling of Dinah
1 Now fDinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of gHamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem hspoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.”
5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and ivery angry, because he jhad done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, kfor such a thing must not be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your7 daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and lthe land shall be open to you. Dwell and mtrade in it, and nget property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, o“Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a pbride-price8 and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.”
13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for qthat would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell 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 we will be gone.”
18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. Now rhe was the most honored of all his father’s house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem scame to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and ttrade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who uwent out of the gate of his city.
25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, vSimeon and Levi, wDinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, x“You have brought trouble on me yby making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, zthe Canaanites and the Perizzites. aMy numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
God Blesses and Renames Jacob
1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to bBethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you cwhen you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his dhousehold and to all who were with him, “Put away ethe foreign gods that are among you and fpurify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God gwho answers me in the day of my distress and hhas been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ithe terebinth tree that was near Shechem.
5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to jLuz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,9 because kthere God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And lDeborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.10
9 God appeared11 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; mno longer shall your name be called Jacob, but nIsrael shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, o“I am God Almighty:12 be pfruitful and multiply. qA nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.13 12 rThe land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God swent up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob tset up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him uBethel.
The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac
16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance14 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for vyou have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;15 wbut his father called him Benjamin.16 19 So xRachel died, and she was buried on the way to yEphrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is zthe pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and alay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it.
Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: bReuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at cMamre, or dKiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died eand was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And fhis sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time
17 pAnd as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, qwe are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will rcondemn him to death 19 and sdeliver him over to the Gentiles tto be mocked and flogged and ucrucified, and he will be raised on vthe third day.”
A Mother’s Request
20 wThen xthe mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and ykneeling before him she asked him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine zare to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ain your kingdom.” 22 Jesus answered, b“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able cto drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, d“You will drink emy cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, fbut it is for those for whom it has been gprepared by my Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to him and said, h“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles ilord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 jIt shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,1 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,2 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but kto serve, and lto give his life as a ransom for mmany.”
Jesus Heals Two Blind Men
29 nAnd as they went out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. 30 And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord,3 have mercy on us, oSon of David!” 31 The crowd prebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 32 And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.
