Genesis 33
1 [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.
And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants:
2 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.
and he put the maidservants and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost.
3 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.
And he passed on before them, and bowed to the earth seven times, until he came near to his brother.
4 But Esau ran to Jacob. He hugged him, put his arms around his neck, and kissed him on the cheek. And they both cried.
And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.
5 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.”
And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant.
6 Then the female slaves and their children came near and bowed in front of Esau.
And the maidservants drew near, they and their children, and they bowed.
7 Then Leah and her children came and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down.
And Leah also, with her children, drew near, and they bowed. And lastly Joseph drew near, and Rachel, and they bowed.
8 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.”
And he said, What [meanest] thou by all the drove which I met? And he said, To find favour in the eyes of my lord.
9 But Esau replied, “My [younger] brother, I have enough animals! Keep for yourself the animals that you have!”
And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let what thou hast be thine.
10 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!
And Jacob said, No, I pray thee; if now I have found favour in thine eyes, then receive my gift from my hand; for therefore have I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou hast received me with pleasure.
11 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.
Take, I pray thee, my blessing which has been brought to thee; because God has been gracious to me, and because I have everything. And he urged him, and he took [it].
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s continue traveling together, and I will show the road to you.”
And he said, Let us take our journey, and go on, and I will go before thee.
13 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.
And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and the suckling sheep and kine are with me; and if they should overdrive them only one day, all the flock would die.
14 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].”
Let my lord, I pray thee, pass on before his servant, and I will drive on at my ease according to the pace of the cattle that is before me, and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir.
15 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.”
And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee [some] of the people that are with me. And he said, What need? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.
16 So on that day Esau left to return to Seir.
And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
17 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’].
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his cattle he made booths. Therefore the name of the place was called Succoth.
18 [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.
And Jacob came safely [to the] city Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram; and he encamped before the city.
19 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.
And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread his tent, of the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitahs.
20 He built a stone altar there, and named it El-Elohe Israel, [which means ‘God, the God of Israel].’
And there he set up an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
