Now when John heard in the prison of the works of the Christ, he sent word through his disciples

And said to Him,  ¹Are You the Coming One, or should we expect  ²another?

And Jesus answered and said to them, Go, report to John the things that you hear and see:

The  ¹blind receive their sight and the  ²lame walk; the  ³lepers are cleansed and the  ⁴deaf hear; and the  ⁵dead are raised and the  ⁶poor have the gospel announced to them;

And blessed is he who is not  ¹stumbled because of Me.

And as these went away, Jesus began to  ¹say to the crowds concerning John, What did you go out into the wilderness to  ²look at? A  ³reed shaken by the wind?

But what did you go out to  ¹see? A  ²man arrayed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings.

But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and  ¹much more than a prophet.

This is he concerning whom it is written, “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”

Truly I say to you, Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is  ¹least  ²in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he.

But from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by  ¹violence, and violent men seize it.

For all the prophets and the law prophesied  ¹until John;

And if you are willing to receive  ¹it, he is  ²Elijah, who is to come.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like little children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to the others

And say, We have played the flute to you, and you did not dance; we have  ¹sung a dirge, and you did not mourn.

For John came  ¹neither eating nor drinking; and they say, He has a  ²demon.

The Son of Man came  ¹eating and drinking; and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a  ²friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet  ³wisdom is justified by her  ⁴works.

Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His works of power took place, because they did not repent:

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the works of power which took place in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

But I say to you, It will be  ¹more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, who have been exalted to heaven, to  ¹Hades you will be brought down. For if the works of power which took place in you had taken place in Sodom, it would have remained until today.

But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

At that time Jesus  ¹answered and said, I  ²extol You, Father,  ³Lord of heaven and of earth, because You have hidden  ⁴these things from the  ⁵wise and intelligent and have revealed them to  ⁶infants.

Yes, Father, for thus it has been well-pleasing  ¹in Your sight.

 ¹All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one fully  ²knows the Son except the Father; neither does anyone fully know the Father except the Son and him to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.

Come to Me all who  ¹toil and are burdened, and I will give you  ²rest.

 ¹Take My  ²yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am  ³meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your  ⁴souls.

For My  ¹yoke is  ²easy and My burden is light.

And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's camp. So he called the name of that place  ¹Mahanaim.

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

And he commanded them, saying, Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now;

And I have oxen and donkeys and flocks, and male servants and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord this, that I may find favor in your sight.

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and he also is coming to meet you; and four hundred men are with him.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two camps;

And he said, If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp which is left will escape.

Then Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who said to me, Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will do you good,

I am not worthy of all the lovingkindnesses and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.

But You have said, I will surely do you good and make your seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

And he spent that night there. Then from what he had with him he took a  ¹present for Esau his brother:

Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

Thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Cross over before me, and put a space between each drove.

And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong? And where are you going? And whose animals are these before you?

Then you will say, Your servant Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord Esau; and now he also is behind us.

And he commanded also the second and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him,

And you shall also say, Your servant Jacob is right behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.

So the present crossed over before him, and he himself spent that night in the camp.

And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two female servants and his eleven children and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.

And he took them and sent them over the stream and sent over what he had.

And Jacob was left alone, and a  ¹man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.

And when  ¹the man saw that He did not prevail against him, He  ²touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him.

And the  ¹man said, Let Me go, for the dawn is breaking. But  ²Jacob said, I will not let You go unless You bless me.

And He said to him,  ¹What is your name? And he said, Jacob.

And He said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but  ¹Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.

And Jacob asked Him and said, Please tell me Your name. But He said, Why is it that you ask My name? And He blessed him there ¹.

And Jacob called the name of the place  ¹Peniel, for, he said, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been preserved.

And the  ¹sun rose upon him as he crossed over Penuel, and he limped because of his hip.

Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the thigh muscle, which is upon the socket of the hip, to this day, because He touched the socket of Jacob's hip at the thigh muscle.

And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and there was Esau coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and among Rachel and among the two female servants.

And he put the female servants and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last.

And he himself passed on before them and bowed down to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother.

And Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and  ¹kissed him, and they wept.

And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The children whom God has graciously given your servant.

Then the female servants came near, they and their children, and they bowed down.

And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

And  ¹Esau said, What do you mean by all this camp which I met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my lord.

And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let what you have be yours.

And Jacob said, No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand; for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

Please take my blessing which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have all that I need. So he urged him, and he took it.

Then  ¹Esau said, Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.

And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are frail and that the nursing flocks and herds are a concern to me; and if they overdrive them for one day, all the flock will die.

Let my lord please pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly according to the pace of the cattle which are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.

So Esau said, Let me please leave with you some of the people who are with me. And he said, What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.

So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

And Jacob journeyed to Succoth and  ¹built a house for himself and made booths for his livestock; therefore the name of the place is called  ²Succoth.

And Jacob came  ¹safely to the city of  ²Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and he camped before the city.

And he bought the piece of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.

And there he erected an  ¹altar and called it  ²El-Elohe-Israel.

And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her and humbled her.

And his soul clung to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke  ¹affectionately to the girl.

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

Now when Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter, his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob kept silent until they came in.

And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.

And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard of it. And the men were grieved and became very angry, because he had committed folly in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done.

And Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him as a wife.

And make marriages with us: Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

And you shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you; dwell and  ¹trade in it, and acquire holdings in it.

And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you say to me I will give.

Impose upon me a very large bridal price and gift, and I will give whatever you say to me; but give me the girl as a wife.

Then the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully; and because he had defiled Dinah their sister, they spoke

And said to them, We are not able to 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 become like us, and every male among you is circumcised,

Then we will give our daughters to you and will take your daughters for ourselves; and we will dwell with you and become one people.

But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.

And their words seemed good to Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.

And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was honored above all the house of his father.

And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city and spoke with the men of their city, saying,

These men are with us peacefully; therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for here the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for ourselves as wives, and let us give them our daughters.

Only on this condition will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to become one people: that every male among us be circumcised as they are circumcised.

Will not their livestock and their property and all their animals be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.

And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

Then on the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city  ¹unawares, and slew every male.

And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away.

The sons of Jacob 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 whatever was in the city and whatever was in the field;

And they took captive and plundered all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives, and even all that was in the houses.

And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have  ¹brought trouble upon me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I am few in number, and they will gather themselves together against me and strike me; and I will be destroyed, I and my house.

And they said, Should he treat our sister like a harlot?