GENESIS XXXIV- -THE SPOILING OF SHECHEM

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13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

14 And they 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 But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, 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 more honourable than 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 the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

22 Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.

23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs 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 boldly, 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 out.

27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled1 the city, because they had defiled their sister.

28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, 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 spoiled even all that was in the house.

30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I being few in number, they shall

'Plundered.

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GENESIS XXXV-JACOB NAMED ISRAEL

gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.

31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot ?

Chapter 35

1 God sendeth Jacob to Beth-el. 2 He purgeth his house of idols. 6 He buildeth an altar at Beth-el. 8 Deborah dieth at Allon-bachuth. 9 God blesseth Jacob at Beth-el. 16 Rachel travaileth of Benjamin, and dieth in the way to Edar. 22 Reuben lieth with Bilhah. 23 The sons of Jacob. 27 Jacob cometh to Isaac at Hebron. 28 The age, death, and burial of Isaac.

ND God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth. 9 ¶ And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and

The Rainbow

BY JOHN MARTIN, AN ENGLISH PAINTER OF THE

EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY, NOTED

FOR HIS IMPRESSIVE BIBLE SCENES

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."Gen., 9, 13.

T

HE barrenness of the bleak world left by the subsiding waters could not terrify the firm faith in God which had upheld and preserved Noah through all the awful horrors of the deluge. His first act on coming forth from the ark was to erect an altar and offer sacrifices in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. And God, speaking from the clouds which still covered the heavens, almost shutting out the light of day, sent down to Noah His commands and blessings.

Brief but wise were the laws proclaimed by Him for the guidance of the little community which was to replenish the earth. Then as Noah and his people bowed in acquiescence, the clouds began to open, sunshine reappeared, illumining the giant peaks of the Armenian mountain wilderness, and displaying to the delighted eyes of man the rainbow. This was the promise and the sign by which God assured His people that the deluge was at an end, and that never again would He envelop the world in such an immeasurable catastrophe.