CHAPTER 33
Now Jacob
looked up
and saw
Esau
coming
toward him with
four
hundred
men.
So he divided
the children
among Leah,
Rachel,
and the two
maidservants.
He put
the maidservants
and their
children
in front,
Leah
and her children
next,
and Rachel
and Joseph
at the rear.
Esau, however,
ran to him
and embraced him,
threw his arms around
his neck,
and kissed him.
And they both wept.
When Esau looked up
and saw
the women
and children,
he asked,
“Who
are these
with you?”
Jacob answered,
“These are the children
God
has graciously given
your servant.”
Leah
and her children
also
approached
and bowed down,
and then
Joseph
and Rachel
approached
and bowed down.
“What
do you mean by sending this
whole
company
to meet me?”
asked Esau.
“To find
favor
in your sight,
my lord,”
Jacob answered.
But Jacob
insisted,
“No,
please!
If
I have found
favor
in your sight,
then receive
this gift
from my hand.
For
indeed,
I have seen
your face,
and it is like seeing
the face
of God,
since you have received me favorably.
Please
take
my present
that
was brought to you,
because
God
has been gracious
to me
and I have
all I need.
So Jacob pressed
him
until he accepted.
But Jacob replied,
“My lord
knows
that
the children
are frail,
and I must care for
sheep
and cattle
that are nursing their young.
If they are driven hard
for even a
day,
all
the animals
will die.
Please
let my lord
go
ahead of
his servant.
I
will continue
on slowly,
at a comfortable pace
for the livestock
and children,
until
I come
to
my lord
at Seir.”
“Let me leave
some of
my
people
with you,”
Esau
said.
But Jacob replied,
“Why
do that?
Let me find
favor
in the sight
of my lord.”
but Jacob
went on
to Succoth,
where he built
a house
for himself
and shelters
for his livestock;
that is why
the place
was called
Succoth.
After Jacob
had come
from
Paddan-aram,
he arrived
safely
at the city
of Shechem
in the land
of Canaan,
and he camped
just outside
the city.
And the plot
of ground
where
he pitched
his tent,
he purchased
from
the sons
of Hamor,
Shechem’s
father,
for a hundred
pieces of silver.