Formation Journal Reading Plan

34:1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

34:2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.

34:3 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.

34:4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, “Get me this young lady as a wife.”

34:5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.

34:6 Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.

34:7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; a which thing ought not to be done.

34:8 Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

34:9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

34:10 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it.”

34:11 Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.

34:12 Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife.”

34:13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

34:14 and said to them, “We can’t do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.

34:15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;

34:16 then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

34:17 But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone.”

34:18 Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son.

34:19 The young man didn’t wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.

34:20 Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,

34:21 “These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

34:22 Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.

34:23 Won’t their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us.”

34:24 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.

34:25 It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.

34:26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away.

34:27 Jacob’s sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

34:28 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,

34:29 and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.

34:30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house.”

34:31 They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?”

30:1 A Psalm. A Song for the Dedication of the Temple. By David. I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.

30:2 Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.

30:3 Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

30:4 Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name.

30:5 For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

30:6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”

30:7 You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.

30:8 I cried to you, Yahweh. To Yahweh I made supplication:

30:9 “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?

30:10 Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper.”

30:11 You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,

30:12 To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

11:1 It happened that when Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

11:2 Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples

11:3 and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”

11:4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:

11:5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

11:6 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

11:7 As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

11:8 But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses.

11:9 But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.

11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

11:11 Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

11:12 From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

11:14 If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.

11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

11:16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions

11:17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’

11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”