5 with Laban, and stayed there until now: and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and women-servants : and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour 6 in thy sight."" And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We went to thy brother Esau, and, lo! he is now coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him."

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the 8 herds, and the camels, into two companies; for he said, “If Esau come to one company and smite it, then the other 9 company which is left may escape." And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst to me, Return to thy own land, and 10 to thy own kindred, and I will deal well with thee:' I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the faithfulness which thou hast shewn to thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am be11 come two companies. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the 12 children. Yet thou hast said, 'I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'”

13 And he lodged there that night; and took of that which 14 he had with him a present for Esau his brother; two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and 15 twenty rams; thirty milch-camels with their colts; forty heifers, and ten steers; twenty she-asses, and ten foals. 16 And he gave them in charge to his servants, each drove by itself; and he said to his servants, "Pass over before me, 17 and put a space between drove and drove." And he commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esau my brother shall meet thee, and shall ask thee, saying, 'Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before 18 thee?' then thou shalt say, 'They are thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord Esau: and, lo, he also is 19 behind us."" And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, "After this 20 manner shall ye speak to Esau, when ye meet him. ye shall moreover, say, 'Lo, thy servant Jacob is behind For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face;

us.'

And

peradventure he will receive me kindly." So the present 21 passed over before him; but he himself lodged that night in the company.

And he arose that night, and took his two wives, and his 22 two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the 23 brook, he also sent over all that he had. And Jacob was 24 left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day: and when the man saw that he pre- 25 vailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And the man said, "Let me go, for the day 26 breaketh." But Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." And he said to him, "What is thy 27 name?" And he said, "Jacob." And he said, “Thy 28 name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel [HE CONTENDETH WITH GOD]: for thou hast contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed. Then Jacob asked, and 29 said, "Tell me, I pray thee, thy name." And he said, "Wherefore dost thou ask after my name?" And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the 30 place Peniel [THE FACE OF GOD]: "for I have seen God face to face, yet my life is preserved."

And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and 31 he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the children of Israel 32 eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

He 3

CHAP. XXXIII.-And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and 1 looked, and, lo, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two handmaids. And he put the hand- 2 maids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after these. then passed on before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, till he came near to his brother. But 4 Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him and they wept. And Esau lifted up 5 his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with thee?" And he said, "The children whom God hath graciously given to thy servant." Then 6 the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they

7 bowed themselves. And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and afterwards Joseph with 8 Rachel, and they bowed themselves. And Esau said, “What meanest thou by all that drove which I met?" And he said, 9"To obtain favour in the sight of my lord." And Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep to thyself that 10 which thou hast." And Jacob said, "Nay, I pray thee; if now I have found favour in thy sight, receive my present from my hand: since I have appeared before thee, as though I had appeared before God, that thou mightest be 11 favourable to me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing which is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have every thing." Thus he urged him, and he took it.

12

Then Esau said, "Let us proceed on our journey, and I will 13 go with thee." But Jacob said to him, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and flocks and herds with their young are with me; and if they should overdrive 14 them one day, the whole flock would die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass on before his servant; and I will lead on gently at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of the 15 children, until I come to my lord unto Seir." And Esau said, "Let me then leave with thee some of the men who are with me." And he said, “Wherefore this? let me find favour in 16 the sight of my lord." So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

17

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for himself a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of 18 the place is called Succoth [BOOTHS]. And Jacob came in safety, on his return from Padan-aram to the city of Shechem, in the land of Canaan; and pitched his tent near the city. 19 And he bought that part of the field, where he had pitched his tent, of the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, 20 for a hundred pieces of money. And he set up there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel [GOD THE GOD OF Israel].

1

CHAP. XXXIV.-Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bare to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of 2 the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay 3 with her, and humbled her. And his soul clave to Dinahı the daughter of Jacob; and he loved the damsel, and spake 4 kindly to the damsel. And Shechem spake to his father

Hamor, saying, "Get me this damsel for a wife.” Now 5 Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: but his sons were with his cattle in the fields, so Jacob was silent until they should come.

Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob 6 to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of 7 the field when they heard what had happened: and the men were grieved, and were greatly enraged, because he had done wickedly against Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to have been done. And Hamor s communed with them, saying, "The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her to him for a wife. And make ye marriages with us; give your 9 daughters to us, and take our daughters to you. So ye shall 10 dwell with us, and the land shall be before you: dwell and trade ye therein, and get therein possessions for yourselves." And Shechem said to her father, and to her brethren, "Let 11 me find favour in your eyes, and what shall say to me I will give. Ask of me the largest dowry and gifts, and I 12 will give according as ye shall say to me: only give me the damsel for a wife."

ye

But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his 13 father deceitfully, because Shechem had defiled Dinah their sister; and they spake and said to them, "We cannot do 14 this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that would be a reproach to us: but on this condition 15 we will assent to you: If ye will be as we are, so that every male of you be circumcised, then will we give our daughters 16 to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and become one people. But if ye will not 17 hearken to us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and be gone." And their words pleased Hamor, 18 and Shechem Hamor's son. And the young man delayed 19 not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter and he was the most honourable of all the house of his father. Then Hamor and Shechem his son went to the gate 20 of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, "These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them 21 dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, lo! the land is large enough for them: let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give to them our daughters. But on this 22 condition only will the men consent to dwell with us, so as to be one people, that every male among us be circumcised,

23 as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle, and their substance, and every beast of theirs, be ours? only let us assent 24 to them, that they may dwell with us." And to Hamor and

to Shechem his son all that went out of the gate of the city hearkened and every male was circumcised, all that went 25 out of the gate of the city. But on the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came without fear 26 upon the city, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and 27 took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away. The sons of Jacob then came upon the slain, and plundered the 28 city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, both those that were in 29 the city, and those that were in the field, and all their wealth; and all their little ones, and their wives, they took captive, and plundered even all that was in their houses.

30

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "Ye have troubled me, by making me abominable among the inhabitants of the land, amongst the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me, and slay me; thus I shall be destroyed, I and my 31 house." And they said, "Should he have treated our sister as a harlot ?"

1

CHAP. XXXV.-And God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there; and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou fleddest from the face of 2 Esau thy brother." Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your 3 garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; that I may make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I 4 went." So they gave to Jacob all the strange gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob 5 hid them under the terebinth-tree by Shechem. And they journeyed and a great terror was upon the cities around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Beth-el), in the land of 7 Canaan, he, and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Beth-el [HOUSE OF GOD]; because there God had appeared to him, when he