One Year Bible.

The Defiling of Dinah

¹Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. ²When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the region, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. ³And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly. ⁴So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”

⁵Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent about it until they returned. ⁶Meanwhile, Shechem’s father Hamor came to speak with Jacob. ⁷When Jacob’s sons heard what had happened, they returned from the field. They were filled with grief and fury, because Shechem had committed an outrage in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter — a thing that should not be done.

⁸But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. ⁹Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. ¹⁰You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

¹¹Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I will give you whatever you ask. ¹²Demand a high dowry and an expensive gift, and I will give you whatever you ask. Only give me the girl as my wife!”

The Revenge of Dinah’s Brothers

¹³But because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah, Jacob’s sons answered him and his father Hamor deceitfully. ¹⁴“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us. ¹⁵We will consent to this on one condition, that you become circumcised like us — every one of your males. ¹⁶Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We will dwell among you and become one people. ¹⁷But if you will not agree to be circumcised, then we will take our sister and go.”

¹⁸Their offer seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. ¹⁹The young man, who was the most respected of all his father’s household, did not hesitate to fulfill this request, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.

²⁰So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and addressed the men of their city: 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. ²³Will not their livestock, their possessions, and all their animals become ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell among us.”

²⁴All the men who went out of the city gate listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male of the city was circumcised.

²⁵Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. ²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

²⁷Jacob’s other sons came upon the slaughter and looted the city, because their sister had been defiled. ²⁸They took their flocks and herds and donkeys, and everything else in the city or in the field. ²⁹They carried off all their possessions and women and children, and they plundered everything in their houses.

³⁰Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

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

Jacob Returns to Bethel

¹Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”

²So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments. ³Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”

⁴So they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and all their earrings, and Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem.

⁵As they set out, a terror from God fell over the surrounding cities, so that they did not pursue Jacob’s sons. ⁶So Jacob and everyone with him arrived in Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷There Jacob built an altar, and he called that place El-bethel, because it was there that God had revealed Himself to Jacob as he fled from his brother.

⁸Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bacuth.

⁹After Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, “Though your name is Jacob, you will no longer be called Jacob. Instead, your name will be Israel.” So God named him Israel.

¹¹And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation — even a company of nations — shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. ¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

¹³Then God went up from the place where He had spoken with him.

¹⁴So Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken with him— a stone marker— and he poured out a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. ¹⁵Jacob called the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

Benjamin Born, Rachel Dies

¹⁶Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. ¹⁷During her severe labor, the midwife said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you are having another son.”

¹⁸And with her last breath— for she was dying— she named vvv him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.

¹⁹So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave; it marks Rachel’s tomb to this day.

The Sons of Jacob

²¹Israel again set out and pitched his tent beyond the Tower of Eder. ²²While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

²³The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

The Death of Isaac

²⁷Jacob returned to his father Isaac at Mamre, near Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed.

²⁸And Isaac lived 180 years. ²⁹Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in their abundance of chariots

and in their multitude of horsemen.

They do not look to the Holy One of Israel;

they do not seek the LORD.

²Yet He too is wise and brings disaster;

He does not call back His words.

He will rise up against the house of the wicked

and against the allies of evildoers.

³But the Egyptians are men, not God;

their horses are flesh, not spirit.

When the LORD stretches out His hand,

the helper will stumble,

and the one he helps will fall;

both will perish together.

⁴For this is what the LORD has said to me:

“Like a lion roaring

or a young lion over its prey —

and though a band of shepherds is called out against it,

it is not terrified by their shouting

or subdued by their clamor —

so the LORD of Hosts will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

⁵Like birds hovering overhead,

so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will shield it and deliver it;

He will pass over it and preserve it.”

⁶Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel. ⁷For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

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.

⁹Their rock will pass away for fear,

and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,”

declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,

whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

A Greeting from James

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion:

Greetings.

Rejoicing in Trials

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position. ¹⁰But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. ¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Good and Perfect Gifts

¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. ¹⁴But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. ¹⁵Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow. ¹⁸He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation.

Hearing and Doing

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, ²⁰for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. ²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

²²Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. ²³For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, ²⁴and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so — not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer — he will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. ²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.