Daily Bible Reading, Day 10 (Genesis 33-36)

Jacob and Esau Reconciled at Sukkoth and Shechem

Genesis, chapter 33. Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two servant women. And he put the servant women and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them.

But he passed on ahead of them, and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept.

And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these.

With you?

And he said, The children whom God has graciously given your servant. Then the servant women came near with their children, and they bowed down. Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down, and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

And he said, What do you mean by all these camps which I have met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my Lord. But Esau said, I have plenty, my brother, let what you have be your own. And Jacob said, No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand.

For I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. Please take my blessing which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything.

Thus he urged him, and he took it. Then Esau said, Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you. But he said to him, My Lord knows that the children are weak, and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are a care to me.

And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die. Please let my Lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me, and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my Lord at Seir.

Then Esau said, Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me. But he said, Why do this? Let me find favor in the sight of my Lord. So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. But Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth, and built for himself a house, and made booths for his livestock.

Therefore the place is named Sukkoth. Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram, and he camped before the city. Then he bought a portion of a field, where he had pitched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamer, Shechem's father, for one hundred kesedah.

Dinah, Shechem, and the Violent Revenge of Simeon and Levi

Then he set up there an altar, and called it El Elohi Israel. Genesis chapter 34. Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Then Shechem the son of Hamer the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, and took her and lay with her, and violated her.

And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamer, saying, Get me this girl as a wife.

Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, but his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob kept silent until they came in. Then Hamer 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 it, and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

But Hamer spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife, and intermarry with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

Thus you shall live with us, and the land shall be open before you. Live and trade in it, and take possession of property in it. And Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me.

Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me, but give me the girl as a wife. But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamer with deceit, and thus they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

And they said to him, We cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us. Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will become like us, in that every male among you 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 will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go. Now their words seemed good in the sight of Hamer and Shechem Hamer's son. So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob's daughter.

Now he was more honored than all the household of his father. So Hamer and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city, and spoke to the men of their city, saying, These men are peaceful with us, therefore let them live in the land and trade in it.

For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives, 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 as they are circumcised.

Will not their livestock and what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us. And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamer and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

Now it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, and came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed every male. And they killed Hamer and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away.

Jacob's sons came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks, and their herds, and their donkeys, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field.

And they captured and plundered all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives, even all that was in the houses. Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Jacob Returns to Bethel, Receives the Name Israel, and Buries Rachel

And my men, being few in number, they will gather together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household. But they said, Should he treat our sister as a harlot? Genesis chapter 35.

Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments.

And let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me wherever I have gone. So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears.

And Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. Then they journeyed on, and there was a terror from God upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, that is, Bethel, which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

And he built an altar there, and called the place El Bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. Then Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak.

It was named Alan Bakuth. Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan Aram, and he blessed him. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob. Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.

Thus he called his name Israel. God also said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your seed after you.

Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it. He also poured oil on it.

So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. Then they journeyed from Bethel, and there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and Rachel gave birth, and she suffered severely in her labor.

Now it happened that when she was in severe labor, the midwife said to her, Do not fear, for now you have another son. Now it happened as her soul was departing, for she died, that she named him Benoni, but his father called him Benjamin.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave, that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

Now it happened while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. And there were twelve sons of Jacob, the sons of Leah, Reuben Jacob's firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun, the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin, and the sons of Bilhah Rachel's servant woman, Dan and Naphtali, and the sons of Zilpah Leah's servant woman, Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram. Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.

The Generations of Esau and the Chiefs of Edom

And Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man and full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Genesis chapter 36. Now these are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom.

Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan, Ada the daughter of Elan the Hittite, and Aholobama the daughter of Aena, and the granddaughter of Zibion the Hivite, also Basemath Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebioth.

And Ada bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reul, and Aholobama bore Jeush, and Jalem, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. Then Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all his household, and his livestock, and all his cattle, and all his acquired goods, which he had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.

For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they sojourned could not sustain them because of their livestock. So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.

These, then, are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. These are the names of Esau's sons, Eliphaz the son of Esau's wife Ada, Reul the son of Esau's wife Basemath.

The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gaddam, and Kenaz. Timnah was a concubine of Esau's son Eliphaz, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau's wife Ada. These are the sons of Reul, Nahath and Zerah, Shema and Mizah.

These were the sons of Esau's wife Basemath. These were the sons of Esau's wife Aholabamah, the daughter of Anah, and the granddaughter of Zibion. She bore to Esau Jeush and Jelum and Korah. These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau.

The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, are chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gaddam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom.

These are the sons of Ada. These are the sons of Reul, Esau's son, chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shema, chief Mizah. These are the chiefs descended from Reul in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Esau's wife Basemath.

These are the sons of Esau's wife Aholabamah, chief Jeush, chief Jelum, chief Korah. These are the chiefs descended from Esau's wife Aholabamah, the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Esau, that is, Edom, and these are their chiefs.

These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land, Lotan and Shobal and Zibion and Anah and Dishan and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

The sons of Lotan were Hori and Himam, and Lotan's sister was Timnah. These are the sons of Shobal, Alvin and Manahath and Ebal, Shifo and Onim. These are the sons of Zibion, Aya and Anah. He is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness when he was pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibion.

These are the children of Anah, Dishan and Aholabamah, the daughter of Anah. These are the sons of Dishan, Hemdan and Eshban and Aithran and Cheran. These are the sons of Ezer, Bilhan and Zeavan and Achan.

These are the sons of Dishan, Uz and Aaron. These are the chiefs of the Horites, chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibion, chief Anah, chief Dishan, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs descended from the Horites according to their various chiefs in the land of Seir.

Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king of the sons of Israel reigned. And Bela the son of Beor became king in Edom and the name of his city was Dinhabah. Then Bela died and Jobab the son of Zerah of Basra became king in his place.

Then Jobab died and Husham the king of the Temanites became king in his place. Then Husham died and Hadad the son of Bedad who struck down Midian in the field of Moab became king in his place and the name of his city was Avith.

Then Hadad died and Samlah of Masraqa became king in his place. Then Samlah died and Sheol of Rehoboth on the river became king in his place. Then Sheol died and Belhanan the son of Akbor became king in his place.

Then Belhanan the son of Akbor died and Hedar became king in his place and the name of his city was Pow and his wife's name was Mahitabel the daughter of Matrid, daughter of Mezahab. Now these are the names of the chiefs descended from Esau according to their families and their places by their names.

Chief Timna, Chief Alva, Chief Jethet, Chief Aholabama, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdeal, Chief Imram. These are the chiefs of Edom that is Esau the father of the Edomites according to their places of habitation in the land of their possession.