GENESIS 32:13-34:31
So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau:
two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
He delivered {them} into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.”
He commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these {animals} in front of you belong?’
then you shall say, ‘{These} belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’”
Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;
and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.”
So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.
Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”
Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
So Jacob named the place Peniel, for {he said,} “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.
He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.
But he himself 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.
He lifted his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
Then the maids 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 this company 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.”
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 gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.” 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 frail 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 proceed at my leisure, 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.”
Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.
Now Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city.
He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money.
Then he erected there an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.
When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.
He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her.
So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young girl for 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 Hamor 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 Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage.
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 acquire property in it.”
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 in marriage.”
But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.
Only on this {condition} will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of 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 reasonable to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.
The young man did not delay to do the thing, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more respected than all the household of his father.
So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,
“These men are friendly 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 in marriage, 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 their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.”
All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
Now it came about 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 city unawares, and killed every male.
They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went forth.
Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and looted 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 looted 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; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”
But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”
MATTHEW 11:7-30
As these men were going {away,} Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft {clothing?} Those who wear soft {clothing} are in kings’ palaces!
But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen {anyone} greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.
For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to accept {it,} John himself is Elijah who was to come.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other {children,}
and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in {the} day of judgment than for you.
And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.
Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in {the} day of judgment, than for you.”
At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from {the} wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal {Him.}
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
PSALM 14:1-7
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God.
They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.
Do all the workers of wickedness not know, Who eat up my people {as} they eat bread, {And} do not call upon the Lord?
There they are in great dread, For God is with the righteous generation.
You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, But the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad.
PROVERBS 3:19-20
19 By wisdom the Lord founded the earth;
by understanding he created the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth,
and the dew settles beneath the night sky.