Genesis 33
1 And Jacob lifts up his eyes, and looks, and behold, Esau is coming, and with him four hundred men; and he divides the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants;
[Then Jacob joined the rest of his family]. [Later that day] Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and there were 400 men with him. [Jacob was worried because of that], so he separated the children. He put Leah’s children with Leah, Rachel’s children with Rachel, and the two female slaves’ children with their mothers.
2 and he sets the maidservants and their children first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.
He put the two female slaves and their children in front. He put Leah and her children next. He put Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
3 And he himself passed over before them, and bows himself to the earth seven times, until his drawing near to his brother,
He himself went ahead of them all, and as he continued to approach his older brother, he prostrated himself with his face on the ground seven times.
4 and Esau runs to meet him, and embraces him, and falls on his neck, and kisses him, and they weep;
But Esau ran to Jacob. He hugged him, put his arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. And they both cried.
5 and he lifts up his eyes, and sees the women and the children, and says, “What [are] these to you?” And he says, “The children with whom God has favored your servant.”
Then Esau looked up and saw the women and the children. He asked, “Who are these people who are with you?” Jacob replied, “These are the wives and children that God has graciously/kindly given to me.”
6 And the maidservants draw near, they and their children, and bow themselves;
Then the female slaves and their children came near and bowed in front of Esau.
7 and Leah also draws near, and her children, and they bow themselves; and afterward Joseph has drawn near with Rachel, and they bow themselves.
Then Leah and her children came and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down.
8 And he says, “What to you [is] all this camp which I have met?” And he says, “To find grace in the eyes of my lord.”
Esau asked, “What is the meaning of all the animals that I saw?” Jacob replied, “I am giving them to you, sir, so that you will feel good toward me.”
9 And Esau says, “I have abundance, my brother, that which you have, let it be for yourself.”
But Esau replied, “My [younger] brother, I have enough animals! Keep for yourself the animals that you have!”
10 And Jacob says, “No, please, now if I have found grace in your eyes, then you have received my present from my hand, because that I have seen your face, as the seeing of the face of God, and you are pleased with me;
But Jacob said, “No, please, if you feel good toward me, accept these gifts from me. You have greeted me very kindly. Seeing your smiling face assures me [that you have forgiven me]. It is like seeing the face of God!
11 please receive my blessing which is brought to you, because God has favored me, and because I have all [things]”; and he presses on him, and he receives [it],
Please accept these gifts that I have brought to you, because God has acted kindly toward me, and I still have plenty of animals!” Jacob kept on urging him to accept the animals, and finally he accepted them.
12 and says, “Let us journey and go on, and I go on before you.”
Then Esau said, “Let’s continue traveling together, and I will show the road to you.”
13 And he says to him, “My lord knows that the children [are] tender, and the suckling flock and the herd [are] with me; when they have beaten them one day, then all the flock has died.
Jacob [had no intention to go with Esau], but he said, “You know, sir, that the children are weak, and that I must take care of the female sheep and cows that are (sucking their mother’s milk/nursing their young). If I force them to walk fast for a long distance in just one day, the animals will all die.
14 Please let my lord pass over before his servant, and I lead on gently, according to the foot of the work which [is] before me, and to the foot of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir.”
You go ahead of me. I will lead the animals slowly, but I will walk as fast as the children and animals can walk. I will catch up with you in Seir, [in the land where the descendants of Edom live].”
15 And Esau says, “Please let me place with you some of the people who [are] with me”; and he said, “Why [is] this? I find grace in the eyes of my lord.”
Esau said, “Then allow me to leave with you some of the men who came with me, [to protect you].” But Jacob replied, “(Why do that?/There is no need to do that!) [RHQ] The only thing that I want is for you to act friendly toward me.”
16 And Esau turns back on that day on his way to Seir;
So on that day Esau left to return to Seir.
17 and Jacob has journeyed to Succoth, and builds a house for himself, and has made shelters for his livestock, therefore he has called the name of the place Succoth.
But [instead of going to Seir], Jacob and his family went to [a place called] Succoth. There he built a house for himself and his family, and built shelters for his livestock. That is the reason they named the place Succoth, [which means ‘shelters’].
18 And Jacob comes safe [to the] city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and encamps before the city,
[Some time later, ] Jacob and his family left Paddan-Aram [in Mesopotamia], and they traveled safely to the Canaan region. There they set up their tents in a field near Shechem city.
19 and he buys the portion of the field where he has stretched out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for one hundred kesitah;
One of the leaders of the people in that area was named Hamor. Hamor had several sons. Jacob paid the sons of Hamor 100 pieces of silver for the piece of ground on which they set up their tents.
20 and he sets up there an altar, and proclaims at it God—the God of Israel.
He built a stone altar there, and named it El-Elohe Israel, [which means ‘God, the God of Israel].’
