DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 66
G enesis 35
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be a disgrace for our sister to marry a man like you! 15 But here is a solution.
If every man among you will be circumcised like we are, 16 then we will give
you our daughters, and we’ll take your daughters for ourselves. We will live
among you and become one people. 17 But if you don’t agree to be circumcised, we will take her and be on our way.”
18 Hamor and his son She
chem agreed to their proposal. 19 Shechem
wasted no time in acting on this request, for he wanted Jacob’s daughter
desperately. Shechem was a highly respected member of his family, 20 and
he went with his father, Hamor, to present this proposal to the leaders at
the town gate.
21 “These men are our friends,” they said. “Let’s invite them to live here
among us and trade freely. Look, the land is large enough to hold them. We
can take their daughters as wives and let them marry ours. 22 But they will
consider staying here and becoming one people with us only if all of our men
are circumcised, just as they are. 23 But if we do this, all their livestock and
possessions will eventually be ours. Come, let’s agree to their terms and let
them settle here among us.”
24 So all the men in the town council agreed with Hamor and Shechem,
and every male in the town was circumcised. 25 But three days later, when
their wounds were still sore, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, who were
Dinah’s full brothers, took their swords and entered the town without opposition. Then they slaughtered every male there, 26 including Hamor and
his son Shechem. They killed them with their swords, then took Dinah from
Shechem’s house and returned to their camp.
27 Meanwhile, the rest of Jacob’s sons arrived. Finding the men slaughtered, they plundered the town because their sister had been defiled there.
28 They seized all the flocks and herds and donkeys—everything they could
lay their hands on, both inside the town and outside in the fields. 29 They
looted all their wealth and plundered their houses. They also took all their
little children and wives and led them away as captives.
30 Afterward Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve
made me stink among all the people of this l and—among all the Canaanites
and Perizzites. We are so few that they will join forces and crush us. I will be
ruined, and my entire household will be wiped out!”
31 “But why should we let him treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.
Jacob’s Return to Bethel
Then God said to Jacob, “Get ready and move to Bethel and settle
there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you
fled from your brother, Esau.”
2 So Jacob told everyone in his household, “Get rid of all your pagan idols,
purify yourselves, and put on clean clothing. 3 We are now going to Bethel,
where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was
in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
4 So they gave Jacob all their pagan idols and earrings, and he buried
them under the great tree near Shechem. 5 As they set out, a terror from
God spread over the people in all the towns of that area, so no one attacked
Jacob’s family.
6 Eventually, Jacob and his household arrived at Luz (also called Bethel)
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