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Genesis 34:13-31
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13 But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.
14 “We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us.
15 We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us—every one of your males.
16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people.
17 But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”
18 Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem.
19 The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.
20 So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city:
21 “These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.
22 But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are.
23 Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.”
24 All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised.
25 Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male.
26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.
27 Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled.
28 They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field.
29 They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” -
Genesis 31:22-42
/RSS FeedGenesis 31:22-42
22 On the third day Laban was informed that Jacob had fled.
23 So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
24 But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
25 Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there as well.
26 Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and carried off my daughters like captives of war!
27 Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
28 But you did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. Now you have done a foolish thing.
29 I have power to do you great harm, but last night the God of your father said to me, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’
30 Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”
31 “I was afraid,” Jacob answered, “for I thought you would take your daughters from me by force.
32 If you find your gods with anyone here, he shall not live! In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself if anything is yours, and take it back.” For 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 maidservants, but he found nothing. Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.
34 Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.
35 Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched, but could not find the household idols.
36 Then Jacob became incensed and challenged Laban. “What is my crime?” he said. “For what sin of mine have you so hotly pursued me?
37 You have searched all my goods! Have you found anything that belongs to you? Put it here before my brothers and yours, that they may judge between the two of us.
38 I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten the rams of your flock.
39 I did not bring you anything torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for what was stolen by day or night.
40 As it was, the heat consumed me by day and the frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
41 Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!
42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, surely by now you would have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and last night He rendered judgment.” -
Genesis 31:1-21
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1 Now Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken away all that belonged to our father and built all this wealth at our father’s expense.”
2 And Jacob saw from the countenance of Laban that his attitude toward him had changed.
3 Then the LORD said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.”
4 So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah to the field where his flocks were,
5 and he told them, “I can see from your father’s countenance that his attitude toward me has changed; but the God of my father has been with me.
6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
7 And although he has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, God has not allowed him to harm me.
8 If he said, ‘The speckled will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore speckled offspring. If he said, ‘The streaked will be your wages,’ then the whole flock bore streaked offspring.
9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
10 When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.
11 In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’
12 ‘Look up,’ he said, ‘and see that all the males that are mating with the flock are streaked, spotted, or speckled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.
13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the pillar and made a solemn vow to Me. Now get up and leave this land at once, and return to your native land.’”
14 And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house?
15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.
16 Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
17 Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on camels,
18 and he drove all his livestock before him, along with all the possessions he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land in Canaan.
19 Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was running away.
21 So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead. -
Genesis 29:14-30
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14 Then Laban declared, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.” After Jacob had stayed with him a month,
15 Laban said to him, “Just because you are my relative, should you work for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
16 Now Laban had two daughters; the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.
17 Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
18 Since Jacob loved Rachel, he answered, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19 Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to another. Stay here with me.”
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
21 Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”
22 So Laban invited all the men of that place and prepared a feast.
23 But when evening came, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her.
24 And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maidservant.
25 When morning came, there was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob said to Laban. “Wasn’t it for Rachel that I served you? Why have you deceived me?”
26 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.
27 Finish this week’s celebration, and we will give you the younger one in return for another seven years of work.”
28 And Jacob did just that. He finished the week’s celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.
29 Laban also gave his servant girl Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maidservant.
30 Jacob slept with Rachel as well, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. So he worked for Laban another seven years. -
Genesis 27:30-46
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30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt.
31 He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32 But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?” “I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.
33 Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”
35 But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.
39 His father Isaac answered him: “Behold, your dwelling place shall be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of heaven above.
40 You shall live by the sword and serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will tear his yoke from your neck.”
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.
43 So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.
44 Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides—
45 until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?” -
Genesis 27:1-29
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1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
2 “Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death.
3 Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me.
4 Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,
6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,
7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’
8 Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.
9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.
10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
11 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.
12 What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”
13 His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”
14 So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.
15 And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.
16 She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
17 Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.
18 So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”
20 But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”
22 So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.
24 Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.”
25 “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
28 May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth— an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.” -
Genesis 26:1-11
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1 Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Settle in the land where I tell you.
3 Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7 But when the men of that place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” since he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is so beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from the window and was surprised to see Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
9 Abimelech sent for Isaac and said, “So she is really your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”
10 “What is this you have done to us?” asked Abimelech. “One of the people could easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever harms this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” -
Genesis 20:1-18
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1 Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,
2 Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
3 One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he replied, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent?
5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet; he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, be aware that you will surely die—you and all who belong to you.”
8 Early the next morning Abimelech got up and summoned all his servants; and when he described to them all that had happened, the men were terrified.
9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.”
10 Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?”
11 Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’
12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.
13 So when God had me journey from my father’s house, I said to Sarah, ‘This is how you can show your loyalty to me: Wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14 So Abimelech brought sheep and cattle, menservants and maidservants, and he gave them to Abraham and restored his wife Sarah to him.
15 And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.”
16 And he said to Sarah, “See, I am giving your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is your vindication before all who are with you; you are completely cleared.”
17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children—
18 for on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah, the LORD had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household.
