Genesis 33

CHAPTER 33

Jacob Meets Esau

¹Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, ^aEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ¹among Leah and Rachel and the two servant-women.

²And he put the servant-women and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them.

³But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^abowed down to the ground seven times, until he ^bcame near to his brother.

⁴Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and ^afell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “¹Who are these with you?” And he said, “^aThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the servant-women came near ¹with their children, and they bowed down.

⁷Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

⁸And he said, “What do you mean by ^aall ¹these camps which I have met?” And he said, “^bTo find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “^aI have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”

¹⁰And Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, ¹for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

¹¹“Please take my ^ablessing which has been brought to you, ^bbecause God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ¹everything.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then ¹Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.”

¹³But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are ¹a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴“Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^aSeir.”

¹⁵Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why do this? ^aLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to ^1aSuccoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Camps in Shechem

¹⁸Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^aShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^bPaddan-aram, and he camped before the city.

^19aThen he bought a portion of a field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred ¹qesitah.

²⁰Then he set up there an altar and called it ¹El-Elohe-Israel.