One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 70
January 16
sons, and we will give you our daughters for your sons. 10 And you may live
among us; the land is open to you!
Settle here and trade with us. And feel
free to buy property in the area.”
11 Then She
chem himself spoke to
Dinah’s father and brothers. “Please
be kind to me, and let me marry her,”
he begged. “I will give you whatever
you ask. 12 No matter what dowry or
gift you demand, I will gladly pay i t—
just give me the girl as my wife.”
13 But since She
chem had defiled
their sister, Dinah, Jacob’s sons responded deceitfully to Shechem and
his father, Hamor. 14 They said to
them, “We couldn’t possibly allow
this, because you’re not circumcised.
It would 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
60
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 Sim
eon
and Levi, “You have ruined me! You’ve
made me stink among all the people of
this land—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.
32:28 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for
“heel” and “deceiver.” Israel means “God fights.”
32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant spelling of Peniel.
33:19 Hebrew 100 kesitahs; the value or weight of the
kesitah is no longer known. 33:20 El-Elohe-Israel
means “God, the God of Israel.” 34:7 Hebrew a
disgraceful thing in Israel.
MATTHEW 11:730
As John’s disciples were leaving,
Jesus began talking about him to the
crowds. “What kind of man did you go
into the wilderness to see? Was he a
weak reed, swayed by e very breath of
wind? 8 Or were you expecting to see
a man dressed in expensive clothes?
No, people with expensive clothes
live in palaces. 9 Were you looking for
a prophet? Yes, and he is more than
a prophet. 10 John is the man to whom
the Scriptures refer when they say,
