F I R S T PA G E S

Genesis 34:2535:15
Three days later, w
hile all of them were s till in pain, two of Jacobs sons,
Simeon and Levi, Dinahs brothers, took t heir s words and attacked the un
suspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to
the s word and took Dinah from Shechems house and left. The sons of Jacob
came upon the dead bodies and looted the city wherec their sister had been
defiled. They seized t heir f locks and h
erds and donkeys and everything else
of theirs in the city and out in the f ields. They carried off all t heir w
ealth and
all t heir women and children, taking as plunder everything in the h
ouses.
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have brought trouble on me
by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people
living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against
me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.
But they replied, Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?
35 Then God said to Jacob, Go up to Bethel and settle t here, and b
uild
an altar t here to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from
your brother Esau.
So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Get rid
of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change
your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar
to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been
with me wherever I have gone. So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods
they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak
at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all
around them so that no one pursued them.
Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the
land of Canaan. There he b
uilt an altar, and he c alled the p
lace El Bethel,a
because it was t here that God revealed himself to him when he was flee
ing from his brother.
Now Deborah, Rebekahs n
urse, died and was buried under the oak
outside Bethel. So it was named Allon B
akuth.b
After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram,c God appeared to him again
and blessed him. God said to him, Your name is Jacob,d but you will no
longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.e So he n
amed him Israel.
And God said to him, I am God Almightyf; be fruitful and increase in
number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and
kings will be among your descendants. The land I gave to Abraham and
Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants af
ter you. Then God went up from him at the p
lace w
here he had t alked
with him.
Jacob set up a s tone pillar at the p
lace w
here God had t alked with him,
and he poured out a d
rink offering on it; he also p
oured oil on it. Jacob
called the place w
here God had talked with him Bethel.g
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11/18/16 1:37 PM