The Daily Audio Bible

¹³ And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁴ two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. ¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. ¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? ¹⁸ then thou shalt say, They are thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us. ¹⁹ And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him; ²⁰ and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me. ²¹ So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.

²² And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵ And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. ²⁶ And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. ²⁷ And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸ And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but ^[a]Israel: for thou hast ^[b]striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹ And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place ^[c]Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. ³¹ And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh. ³² Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. ² And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. ³ And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. ⁴ And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. ⁵ And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant. ⁶ Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. ⁷ And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. ⁸ And he said, What meanest thou by all this company which I met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my lord. ⁹ And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let that which thou hast be thine. ¹⁰ And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; ^[d]forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. ¹¹ Take, I pray thee, my ^[e]gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have ^[f]enough. And he urged him, and he took it. ¹² And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. ¹³ And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. ¹⁵ And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find favor in the sight of my lord. ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. ¹⁷ And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called ^[g]Succoth.

¹⁸ And Jacob came ^[h]in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city. ¹⁹ And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ^[i]pieces of money. ²⁰ And he erected there an altar, and called it ^[j]El-Elohe-Israel.

34 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ² And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. ³ And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake ^[k]kindly unto the damsel. ⁴ And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. ⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶ And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. ⁷ And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. ⁸ And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you, give her unto him to wife. ⁹ And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. ¹⁰ And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. ¹¹ And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find favor in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. ¹² Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. ¹³ And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, ¹⁴ and said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us. ¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised; ¹⁶ then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷ But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

¹⁸ And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. ¹⁹ And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was honored above all the house of his father. ²⁰ And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, ²¹ These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²² Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. ²³ Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. ²⁴ And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. ²⁵ And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city ^[l]unawares, and slew all the males. ²⁶ And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went forth. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field; ²⁹ and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, took they captive and made a prey, even all that was in the house. ³⁰ And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. ³¹ And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?

⁷ And as these went their way, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to behold? a reed shaken with the wind? ⁸ But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses. ^9 [a]But wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is he, of whom it is written,

¹¹ Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is ^[c]but little in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force. ¹³ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if ye are willing to receive ^[d]it, this is Elijah, that is to come. ¹⁵ He that hath ears ^[e]to hear, let him hear. ¹⁶ But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows ¹⁷ and say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not ^[f]mourn. ¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a demon. ¹⁹ The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of ^[g]publicans and sinners! And wisdom ^[h]is justified by her ^[i]works.

²⁰ Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his ^[j]mighty works were done, because they repented not. ²¹ Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the ^[k]mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²² But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. ²³ And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt ^[l]go down unto Hades: for if the ^[m]mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴ But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

²⁵ At that season Jesus answered and said, I ^[n]thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: ²⁶ yea, Father, ^[o]for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. ²⁷ All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. ²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The folly and wickedness of men.

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.