VayishlachAnd he sent

1Reading 1 Genesis 32:4–13Chapter page with footnotes →

^32:4And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁵And he commanded them, saying, "Thus shall you say to my lord, to Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and have stayed until now. ⁶And I have ox and donkey, flock, and manservant and maidservant; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.'"

⁷And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother, to Esau, and moreover he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him."

⁸And Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flock and the herd and the camels, into two camps. ⁹And he said, "If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp that is left shall escape."

¹⁰And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your land and to your kindred, and I will do good with you': ¹¹I am too small for all the mercies and for all the truth which you have done with your servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹²Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, the mother upon the sons. ¹³And you yourself said, 'I will surely do good with you, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

2Reading 2 Genesis 32:14–30Chapter page with footnotes →

^32:14And he spent the night there that night; and he took from that which came into his hand a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁵two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁶thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals. ¹⁷And he gave into the hand of his servants every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space between drove and drove."

¹⁸And he commanded the first, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, saying, Whose are you? and where are you going? and whose are these before you? ¹⁹then you shall say, 'They are your servant Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord, to Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.'"

²⁰And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all those going after the droves, saying, "According to this word you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²¹and you shall say, 'Moreover, behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he said, "I will cover his face with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face."

²²And the present passed over before him; and he himself spent that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²³And he rose up that night, and took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁴And he took them and sent them over the stream, and sent over what he had.

²⁵And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him ad(עד) the going up of the dawn. ²⁶And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained as he wrestled with him. ²⁷And he said, "Let me go, for the dawn has gone up." And he said, "I will not let you go, except you bless me."

²⁸And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."

²⁹And he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."

³⁰And Jacob asked and said, "Tell me, I pray, your name." And he said, "Why is it that you ask for my name?" And he blessed him there.

3Reading 3 Genesis 32:31–33:5Chapter page with footnotes →

^32:31And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; "for I have seen God face to face, and my soul was delivered."

³²And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping upon his thigh. ³³Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh-vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh, until this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, in the sinew of the thigh-vein.

Jacob Meets Esau

^33:1And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children among Leah and among Rachel and among the two handmaids. ²And he put the handmaids and their children first, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell upon his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these to you?" And he said, "The children whom God has graciously given to your servant."

4Reading 4 Genesis 33:6–20Chapter page with footnotes →

^33:6And the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. ⁷And Leah also came near, and her children, and they bowed themselves; and afterward Joseph came near, and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

⁸And he said, "What to you is all this camp which I met?" And he said, "To find favor in the eyes of my lord."

⁹And Esau said, "I have abundance, my brother; let what is yours be yours."

¹⁰And Jacob said, "No, I pray, if now I have found favor in your eyes, then you shall take my gift from my hand; for therefore I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. ¹¹Take, I pray, my blessing which has been brought to you; for God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have all." And he urged him, and he took it.

¹²And he said, "Let us journey and let us go, and I will go alongside you."

¹³And he said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and the herds are nursing upon me; and if they overdrive them one day, then all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord, I pray, pass over before his servant; and I will lead on at my ease, at the foot of the work that is before me and at the foot of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir."

¹⁵And Esau said, "Let me leave, I pray, with you some of the people who are with me." And he said, "Why this? Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord."

¹⁶And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his livestock he made booths; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth.

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and he encamped before the city. ¹⁹And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred qesitah. ²⁰And he set up there an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

5Reading 5 Genesis 34:1–35:11Chapter page with footnotes →

The Defiling of Dinah

^34:1And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. ³And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob; and he loved the young woman, and spoke to the heart of the young woman. ⁴And Shechem spoke to Hamor his father, saying, "Take for me this young girl for a wife."

⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field; and Jacob kept silent ad(עד) they came. ⁶And Hamor, Shechem's father, went out to Jacob to speak with him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob; and so it should not be done.

⁸And Hamor spoke with them, saying, "Shechem my son — his soul longs for your daughter; give her, I pray, to him for a wife. ⁹And intermarry with us; your daughters you shall give to us, and our daughters you shall take for yourselves. ¹⁰And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade in it, and take possession in it."

¹¹And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. ¹²Multiply upon me greatly bride-price and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the young woman for a wife."

The Revenge of Dinah’s Brothers

¹³And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke — because he had defiled Dinah their sister — ¹⁴and said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for that is a reproach to us. ¹⁵Only on this will we consent to you: if you become like us, that every male of you be circumcised, ¹⁶then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷But if you do not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go."

¹⁸And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son. ¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, for he delighted in the daughter of Jacob; and he was honored above all the house of his father.

²⁰And Hamor came, and Shechem his son, to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying, ²¹"These men are at peace with us; so let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for the land, behold, is broad of hands before them; their daughters we will take for ourselves for wives, and our daughters we will give to them. ²²Only on this will the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people: if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. ²³Their livestock and their possessions and all their beasts — will they not be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us."

²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city in security, and killed every male. ²⁶And Hamor and Shechem his son they killed by the mouth of the sword; and they took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.

²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸Their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and what was in the city and what was in the field, they took. ²⁹And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives, they took captive and plundered, even all that was in the house.

³⁰And Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious among the inhabitant of the land, among the Canaanite and the Perizzite; and I am few in number, and they will gather against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."

³¹And they said, "Should he treat our sister as a harlot?"

Jacob Returns to Bethel

^35:1And God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother."

²And Jacob said to his house and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are in your midst, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; ³and let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar to the God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went."

⁴And they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth that was by Shechem.

⁵And they journeyed; and the terror of God was upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. ⁶And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan — that is Bethel — he and all the people that were with him. ⁷And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel, because there God was revealed to him when he fled from the face of his brother.

⁸And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; and he called its name Allon-bacuth.

⁹And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." And he called his name Israel.

¹¹And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from you, and kings shall come out of your loins.

6Reading 6 Genesis 35:12–36:19Chapter page with footnotes →

^35:12And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to you I will give it; and to your seed after you I will give the land."

¹³And God went up from him, in the place where he spoke with him.

¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out on it a drink-offering, and poured on it oil. ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

Benjamin Born, Rachel Dies

¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel gave birth, and she had hard labor in her bearing. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, "Fear not, for this also is a son for you."

¹⁸And it came to pass, as her soul was going out — for she died — that she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath — that is Bethlehem. ²⁰And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day.

The Sons of Jacob

²¹And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond Migdal-eder. ²²And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

The Death of Isaac

²⁷And Jacob came to Isaac his father at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba — that is Hebron — where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

²⁸And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years. ²⁹And Isaac expired, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

The Descendants of Esau

^36:1And these are the generations of Esau (he is Edom). ²Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, ³and Basemath the daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bore Reuel; ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush and Jalam and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his livestock, and all his beasts, and all his possession which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from the face of Jacob his brother. ⁷For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their livestock. ⁸And Esau dwelt in mount Seir; Esau is Edom.

⁹And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom in mount Seir.

¹⁰These are the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.

¹¹And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²And Timna was a concubine to Eliphaz the son of Esau, and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah the wife of Esau.

¹³And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau.

¹⁴And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, the wife of Esau; and she bore to Esau Jeush and Jalam and Korah.

¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, ¹⁶chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.

¹⁷And these are the sons of Reuel the son of Esau: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath the wife of Esau.

¹⁸And these are the sons of Oholibamah the wife of Esau: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the wife of Esau.

¹⁹These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs; he is Edom.

7Reading 7 Genesis 36:20–43Chapter page with footnotes →

The Descendants of Seir

^36:20These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, ²¹and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

²²And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna.

²³And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

²⁴And these are the sons of Zibeon: both Aiah and Anah — this is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

²⁵And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.

²⁶And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran.

²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan.

²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These are the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, ³⁰chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

The Kings of Edom

³¹And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the sons of Israel.

³²And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.

³⁴And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.

³⁵And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

³⁶And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.

³⁷And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead.

³⁸And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

³⁹And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab.

⁴⁰And these are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, ⁴¹chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁴²chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁴³chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their dwellings in the land of their possession. This is Esau the father of Edom.

PObadiah 1:1–21Chapter page with footnotes →

The Destruction of Edom

^1:1The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: "Arise, and let us rise up against her for the battle."

²Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are greatly despised.

³The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, the height of his seat, who says in his heart: "Who shall bring me down to the earth?"

⁴Though you soar like the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.

⁵If thieves came to you, if spoilers of the night—how you are cut off!—would they not steal till their enough? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

⁶How Esau is searched out, his hidden things are sought out!

⁷To the border they have sent you, all the men of your covenant; they have deceived you, they have prevailed against you, the men of your peace; your bread they set as a snare under you—there is no understanding in him.

⁸Shall I not in that day, declares the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

⁹And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.

¹⁰For the violence to your brother Jacob shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.

¹¹In the day of your standing aloof, in the day strangers carried away his force, and foreigners entered his gates, and over Jerusalem they cast lots—you also were as one of them.

¹²And do not look on the day of your brother, on the day of his calamity; and do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction; and do not make your mouth great in the day of distress.

¹³Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their disaster; do not look, you also, on his evil in the day of his disaster; and do not lay hands on his force in the day of his disaster.

¹⁴And do not stand at the crossway, to cut off his fugitives; and do not deliver up his survivors in the day of distress.

The Deliverance of Israel

¹⁵For near is the day of the LORD upon all the nations; as you have done, it shall be done to you; your dealing shall return upon your head.

¹⁶For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations shall drink continually; and they shall drink, and swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

¹⁷And on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

¹⁸And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble; and they shall kindle among them, and devour them; and there shall not be a survivor to the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁹And they of the Negev shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the lowland the Philistines; and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria; and Benjamin shall possess the Gilead.

²⁰And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the Negev.

²¹And saviors shall go up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

AMatthew 5:21–24Chapter page with footnotes →

Anger and Reconciliation

^5:21You have heard that it was said to the ancients: 'You shall not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will be liable to the judgment.' ²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, 'Raka' will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to the Gehenna of fire.

²³If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.