Genesis 33; Genesis 34; Genesis 35; Matthew 10:1-20

1 Jacob saw Esau coming with his four hundred men, so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two concubines.

2 He put the concubines and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

3 Jacob went ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. They were both crying.

5 When Esau looked around and saw the women and the children, he asked, "Who are these people with you?" "These, sir, are the children whom God has been good enough to give me," Jacob answered.

6 Then the concubines came up with their children and bowed down;

7 then Leah and her children came, and last of all Joseph and Rachel came and bowed down.

8 Esau asked, "What about that other group I met? What did that mean?" Jacob answered, "It was to gain your favor."

9 But Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have."

10 Jacob said, "No, please, if I have gained your favor, accept my gift. To see your face is for me like seeing the face of God, now that you have been so friendly to me.

11 Please accept this gift which I have brought for you; God has been kind to me and given me everything I need." Jacob kept on urging him until he accepted.

12 Esau said, "Let's get ready and leave. I will go ahead of you."

13 Jacob answered, "You know that the children are weak, and I must think of the sheep and livestock with their young. If they are driven hard for even one day, the whole herd will die.

14 Please go on ahead of me, and I will follow slowly, going as fast as I can with the livestock and the children until I catch up with you in Edom."

15 Esau said, "Then let me leave some of my men with you." But Jacob answered, "There is no need for that for I only want to gain your favor."

16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Edom.

17 But Jacob went to Sukkoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Sukkoth.

18 On his return from Mesopotamia Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan and set up his camp in a field near the city.

19 He bought that part of the field from the descendants of Hamor father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver.

20 He put up an altar there and named it for El, the God of Israel.

1 One day Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, went to visit some of the Canaanite women.

2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of that region, saw her, he took her and raped her.

3 But he found the young woman so attractive that he fell in love with her and tried to win her affection.

4 He told his father, "I want you to get Dinah for me as my wife."

5 Jacob learned that his daughter had been disgraced, but because his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he did nothing until they came back.

6 Shechem's father Hamor went out to talk with Jacob,

7 just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard about it, they were shocked and furious that Shechem had done such a thing and had insulted the people of Israel by raping Jacob's daughter.

8 Hamor said to him, "My son Shechem has fallen in love with your daughter; please let him marry her.

9 Let us make an agreement that there will be intermarriage between our people and yours.

10 Then you may stay here in our country with us; you may live anywhere you wish, trade freely, and own property."

11 Then Shechem said to Dinah's father and brothers, "Do me this favor, and I will give you whatever you want.

12 Tell me what presents you want, and set the payment for the bride as high as you wish; I will give you whatever you ask, if you will only let me marry her."

13 Because Shechem had disgraced their sister Dinah, Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor in a deceitful way.

14 They said to him, "We cannot let our sister marry a man who is not circumcised; that would be a disgrace for us.

15 We can agree only on the condition that you become like us by circumcising all your males.

16 Then we will agree to intermarriage. We will settle among you and become one people with you.

17 But if you will not accept our terms and be circumcised, we will take her and leave."

18 These terms seemed fair to Hamor and his son Shechem,

19 and the young man lost no time in doing what was suggested, because he was in love with Jacob's daughter. He was the most important member of his family.

20 Hamor and his son Shechem went to the meeting place at the city gate and spoke to the people of the town:

21 "These men are friendly; let them live in the land with us and travel freely. The land is large enough for them also. Let us marry their daughters and give them ours in marriage.

22 But these men will agree to live among us and be one people with us only on the condition that we circumcise all our males, as they are circumcised.

23 Won't all their livestock and everything else they own be ours? So let us agree that they can live among us."

24 All the citizens of the city agreed with what Hamor and Shechem proposed, and all the males were circumcised.

25 Three days later, when the men were still sore from their circumcision, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, took their swords, went into the city without arousing suspicion, and killed all the men,

26 including Hamor and his son Shechem. Then they took Dinah from Shechem's house and left.

27 After the slaughter Jacob's other sons looted the town to take revenge for their sister's disgrace.

28 They took the flocks, the cattle, the donkeys, and everything else in the city and in the fields.

29 They took everything of value, captured all the women and children, and carried off everything in the houses.

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have gotten me into trouble; now the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and everybody else in the land will hate me. I do not have many men; if they all band together against me and attack me, our whole family will be destroyed."

31 But they answered, "We cannot let our sister be treated like a common whore."

1 God said to Jacob, "Go to Bethel at once, and live there. Build an altar there to me, the God who appeared to you when you were running away from your brother Esau."

2 So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that you have; purify yourselves and put on clean clothes.

3 We are going to leave here and go to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who helped me in the time of my trouble and who has been with me everywhere I have gone."

4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that they had and also the earrings that they were wearing. He buried them beneath the oak tree near Shechem.

5 When Jacob and his sons started to leave, great fear fell on the people of the nearby towns, and they did not pursue them.

6 Jacob came with all his people to Luz, which is now known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan.

7 He built an altar there and named the place for the God of Bethel, because God had revealed himself to him there when he was running away from his brother.

8 Rebecca's nurse Deborah died and was buried beneath the oak south of Bethel. So it was named "Oak of Weeping."

9 When Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, God appeared to him again and blessed him.

10 God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but from now on it will be Israel." So God named him Israel.

11 And God said to him, "I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you, and you will be the ancestor of kings.

12 I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, and I will also give it to your descendants after you."

13 Then God left him.

14 There, where God had spoken to him, Jacob set up a memorial stone and consecrated it by pouring wine and olive oil on it.

15 He named the place Bethel.

16 Jacob and his family left Bethel, and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, the time came for Rachel to have her baby, and she was having difficult labor.

17 When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, Rachel; it's another boy."

18 But she was dying, and as she breathed her last, she named her son Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

19 When Rachel died, she was buried beside the road to Ephrath, now known as Bethlehem.

20 Jacob set up a memorial stone there, and it still marks Rachel's grave to this day.

21 Jacob moved on and set up his camp on the other side of the tower of Eder.

22 While Jacob was living in that land, Reuben had sexual intercourse with Bilhah, one of his father's concubines; Jacob heard about it and was furious. Jacob had twelve sons.

23 The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob's oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Rachel's slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

26 The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher. These sons were born in Mesopotamia.

27 Jacob went to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived.

28 Isaac lived to be a hundred and eighty years old

29 and died at a ripe old age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

1 Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and every sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee;

3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

4 Simon the Patriot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

5 These twelve men were sent out by Jesus with the following instructions: "Do not go to any Gentile territory or any Samaritan towns.

6 Instead, you are to go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.

7 Go and preach, "The Kingdom of heaven is near!'

8 Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid.

9 Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper money in your pockets;

10 do not carry a beggar's bag for the trip or an extra shirt or shoes or a walking stick. Workers should be given what they need.

11 "When you come to a town or village, go in and look for someone who is willing to welcome you, and stay with him until you leave that place.

12 When you go into a house, say, "Peace be with you.'

13 If the people in that house welcome you, let your greeting of peace remain; but if they do not welcome you, then take back your greeting.

14 And if some home or town will not welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place and shake the dust off your feet.

15 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than to the people of that town!

16 "Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves.

17 Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues.

18 For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles.

19 When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say.

20 For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.