Jan 19th

Then Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her and took her and lay with her and violated her.

And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke to the heart of the young woman.

So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl as 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 as a wife.

And 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 take possession of property in it.”

And 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 as a wife.”

But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, and thus they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.

And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us.

Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male among 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 good in the sight of Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter. Now he was more honored 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 peaceful 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 for us as wives 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 what they acquire and all their cattle be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will live with us.”

And 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 happened 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 unsuspecting city and killed every male.

And they killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went away.

Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and plundered 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 plundered 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 strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”

But they said, “Should he treat our sister as a harlot?”

Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you and cleanse yourselves and change your garments;

and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had and the rings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.

Then they journeyed on, and there was a terror from God upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.

And he built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed Himself to him when he fled from his brother.

Then Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak; it was named Allon-bacuth.

Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.

And God said to him,

Thus He called his name Israel.

God also said to him,

Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.

So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.

Then they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, and Rachel gave birth, and she suffered severely in her labor.

Now it happened that when she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.”

Now it happened as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.

Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

Now it happened while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it.

And there were twelve sons of Jacob—

the sons of Leah:

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,

then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun;

the sons of Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin;

and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-woman:

Dan and Naphtali;

And Peter answered and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

And He said, “Come!” And getting out of the boat, Peter walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!”

And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick;

and they were pleading with Him that they might just touch the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were cured.

Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’

But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might benefit from me is given to God,”

he need not honor his father.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand.

Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”

But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.