and instructed them as follows, “Thus shall you say, ‘To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob:*Thus shall you say, ‘To my lord Esau, thus says your servant Jacob…’ Or “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob…’” I stayed with Laban and remained until now;
The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau; he himself is coming to meet you, and his retinue*retinue Trad. “men,” yet women may be in view. See 33.15; cf. 24.59; contrast Judg. 9.49 with Exod. 32.28. See further the Dictionary under ’ish. numbers four hundred.”
Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham’s [house] and God of my father Isaac’s [house], O יהוה, who said to me, ‘Return to your native land and I will deal bountifully with you’!
I am unworthy of all the kindness that You have so steadfastly shown Your servant: with my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
He instructed the one in front as follows, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, ‘Who’s your master? Where are you going? And whose [animals] are these ahead of you?’
He gave similar instructions to the second one, and the third, and all the others who followed the droves, namely, “Thus and so shall you say to Esau when you reach him.
And you shall add, ‘And your servant Jacob himself is right behind us.’” For he reasoned, “If I propitiate him with presents in advance, and then face him, perhaps he will show me favor.”
That same night he arose, and taking his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons,*sons NJPS “children”; Heb. yeladim. Given the specified number, the reference cannot include Jacob’s daughter(s). English idiom warrants the greater gender specificity. he crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
Jacob was left alone. And a figure*figure Or “[divine] agent.” The expectation of divine intervention (see 28.15; 32.10–13) via a nearby agent (see 32.2–3) evokes this extended sense. Cf. 18.2; see further the Dictionary under ’ish; Agent. wrestled with him until the break of dawn.
When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him.
Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven*striven Heb. saritha, connected with first part of “Israel.” with beings divine and human,*beings divine and human Or “God (Elohim, connected with second part of ‘Israel’) and human beings.” and have prevailed.”
So Jacob named the place Peniel,*Peniel Understood as “face of God.” meaning, “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob’s hip socket was wrenched at the thigh muscle.
Looking up, Jacob saw Esau coming, with a retinue*retinue See note at 32.7. of four hundred. He divided the children*children Heb. yeladim, referring here only to Jacob’s sons (see 32.23) in anticipation of their becoming the progenitors of Israel’s tribes; and so through v. 14. among Leah, Rachel, and the two maids,
Looking about, he saw the women and the children. “Who,” he asked, “are these with you?” He answered, “The children with whom God has favored your servant.”
But Jacob said, “No, I pray you; if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me favorably.
But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me; if they are driven hard a single day, all the flocks will die.
Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I travel slowly, at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
But Jacob journeyed on to Succoth, and built a house for himself and made stalls for his cattle; that is why the place was called Succoth.*Succoth Meaning “stalls,” “huts,” “booths.”
The parcel of land where he pitched his tent he purchased from the kin of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitahs.*kesitahs Heb. qesiṭah, a unit of unknown value.
Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, chief of the country, saw her, and took her and lay with her and disgraced her.*and disgraced her Heb. wa-y‘anneha, lit. “and violated her.” NJPS “by force,” but whether Dinah consented is not stated, and is not at issue; regardless, by the norms of the ancient Near East, she was disgraced. OJPS “and humbled her.”
Meanwhile Jacob’s sons, having heard the news, came in from the field. The men*The men More precisely, “the [salient] participants [in the situation],” namely Jacob’s sons. See the Dictionary under ’ish. were distressed and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter—a thing not to be done.
So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the public place*public place Lit. “gate.” of their town and spoke to their town council,*their town council Heb. ’anshe ‘iram; NJPS “their fellow townsmen,” trad. “the men of their city.” Cf. Ruth 3.11; 4.1–2. See the Dictionary under ’ish. saying,
“These people*people (So NJPS.) Lit. “participants whose involvement defines the depicted situation.” See the Dictionary under ’ish. are our friends; let them settle in the land and move about in it, for the land is large enough for them; we will take their daughters to ourselves as wives and give our daughters to them.
But only on this condition will their representatives*their representatives NJPS “the men.” Cf. note on v. 21. agree with us to dwell among us and be as one kindred: that all our males become circumcised as they are circumcised.
All his fellow townsmen*All his fellow townsmen So the NJPS footnote; the reading in NJPS itself is more literal (“all who went out of the gate of his town”), yet here, women are not in view. heeded Hamor and his son Shechem, and all males, all his fellow townsmen,*all his fellow townsmen See the previous note. were circumcised.
On the third day, when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob’s sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city unmolested, and slew all the males.
Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me, making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my fighters*fighters Heb. metim (in construct form); cf. Deut. 2.34; 3.6; Isa. 3.25. NJPS “men.” are few in number, so that if they unite against me and attack me, I and my house will be destroyed.”
God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and remain there; and build an altar there to the 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, “Rid yourselves of the alien gods in your midst, purify yourselves, and change your clothes.
Come, let us go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”
They gave to Jacob all the alien gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the terebinth that was near Shechem.
There he built an altar and named the site El-bethel,*El-bethel “The God of Bethel.” for it was there that God had been revealed to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and was buried under the oak below Bethel; so it was named Allon-bacuth.*Allon-bacuth Understood as “the oak of the weeping.”
And God said to him, “I am El Shaddai.*El Shaddai Cf. 17.1. Be fertile and increase; A nation, yea an assembly of nations, Shall descend from you. Kings shall issue from your loins.
But as she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni;*Ben-oni Understood as “son of my suffering (or, strength).” but his father called him Benjamin.*Benjamin I.e., “son of the right hand,” or “son of the south.”
While Israel stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel found out. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve in number.
when he breathed his last and died. He*He Lit. “Isaac.” was gathered to his kin*kin (So NJPS.) See the Dictionary under “predecessors.” in ripe old age; and he was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob.
Esau took his wives from among the Canaanite women—Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah daughter of Zibeon the Hivite*Hivite Cf. v. 20, “Horite.” —
Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Jacob.
And these are the descendants of Esau’s son Reuel: the clans Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the clans of Reuel in the land of Edom. Those are the descendants of Esau’s wife Basemath.
And these are the descendants of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: the clans Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the clans of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.
The sons of Zibeon were these: Aiah*Aiah Heb. “and Aiah.” and Anah—that was the Anah who discovered the hot springs*hot springs Meaning of Heb. yemim uncertain. in the wilderness while pasturing the asses of his father Zibeon.
And when Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar succeeded him as king; the name of his city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.