Genesis 34

²¹After that, Leah gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.

³⁶How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

¹⁵These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

¹³Leah said, “How happy I am! For the women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.

²⁸But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

¹One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman.

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

⁹If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,

²⁹then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.”

²²And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the Lord. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

¹⁴Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

⁷Now therefore get up! Go out and speak comfort to your servants, for I swear by the Lord that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the adversity that has befallen you from your youth until now!”

¹After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

²So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

²¹And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

¹³Where could I ever take my shame? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel! Please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

²²And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar.

¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹³Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.” “I am ready,” Joseph replied.

¹⁴Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,

²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

²⁵Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing.

³Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when He said: ‘To those who come near Me I will show My holiness, and in the sight of all the people I will reveal My glory.’” But Aaron remained silent.

¹⁵The one who is caught with the things devoted to destruction must be burned, along with all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and committed an outrage in Israel.’”

⁶Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

²¹she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.”

⁴Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.

²“Tell the Israelites to do as follows with one who sins unintentionally against any of the Lord’s commandments and does what is forbidden by them:

²⁰My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.

²These women were from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.

¹A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.

³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.

²My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

³Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

³and I will have you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

²the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

³⁵And they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

²⁷Now the Israelites settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and became fruitful and increased greatly in number.

⁹Is not the whole land before you? Now separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

³⁴But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”

¹⁵And Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever you please.”

²¹“These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.

²²But only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us and be one people: if all our men are circumcised as they are.

¹⁵“Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

³“My lord,” said Abraham, “if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by.

¹⁶If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged in marriage and sleeps with her, he must pay the full dowry for her to be his wife.

¹⁷If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, the man still must pay an amount comparable to the bridal price of a virgin.

⁵³Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.

²⁸If a man encounters a virgin who is not pledged in marriage, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,

²⁹then the man who lay with her must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she must become his wife because he has violated her. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁵Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

²⁶When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

⁴¹Thus for twenty years I have served in your household—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—and you have changed my wages ten times!

¹⁴Then David sent messengers to say to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, “Give me back my wife, Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

²⁸Because Isaac had a taste for wild game, he loved Esau; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

³Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”

¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

¹³and instructed them: “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’

²⁴A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

²⁵When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will repay the man according to his work.”

³⁶Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

²⁰Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

²At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel once again.”

³So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth.

⁸And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”

⁷After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the Lord.

²⁶David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

¹²I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.

¹⁵Then Balak sent other princes, more numerous and more distinguished than the first messengers.

⁵⁰The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

¹²As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

⁶Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.

⁴No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.

²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

¹⁰There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.

²³Her husband is known at the city gates, where he sits among the elders of the land.

⁵you must bring out to your gates the man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you must stone that person to death.

¹⁵Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

¹²let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.

¹³We will find all manner of precious goods; we will fill our houses with plunder.

²⁴It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

²⁵Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. “Men,” he said, “you know that this business is our source of prosperity.

⁶Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.

¹⁶To those selling doves He said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn My Father’s house into a marketplace!”

²⁰A faithful man will abound with blessings, but one eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

⁴Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

⁵When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,

¹⁹Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commandments is what counts.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.

²⁸A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical.

²⁹No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God had told him.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

³³Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son as well.” So she named him Simeon.

³⁴Once again Leah conceived and gave birth to a son, and she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.

²⁵But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

¹⁷So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

³⁵He will not be appeased by any ransom, or persuaded by lavish gifts.

⁸And after all the nation had been circumcised, they stayed there in the camp until they were healed.

⁸“Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man; a sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be put to forced labor.

⁴²I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”

²⁶Then Abner called out to Joab: “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not realize that this will only end in bitterness? How long before you tell the troops to stop pursuing their brothers?”

¹⁶The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.

²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force.

¹³Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

³¹But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

¹⁰They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁷You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”

¹⁸But remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.

⁵the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

¹⁵the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,

⁴And all Israel heard the news: “Saul has attacked an outpost of the Philistines, and now Israel has become a stench to the Philistines!” Then the people were summoned to join Saul at Gilgal.

¹²When they were few in number, few indeed, and strangers in the land,

²¹“May the Lord look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”

²⁵“Why have you brought this trouble upon us?” said Joshua. “Today the Lord will bring trouble upon you!” And all Israel stoned him to death. Then they stoned the others and burned their bodies.

¹³And there at the top the Lord was standing and saying, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

³⁴For jealousy enrages a husband, and he will show no mercy in the day of vengeance.

¹³But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.