Shared Word Translation
Genesis 33
Jacob Meets Esau
Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. He put the female servants and their children first, then Leah and her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. And he himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother.
But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept. Then Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children and said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” Then the female servants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. Leah likewise and her children came near and bowed down. And afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.
And Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company that I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.” Jacob said, “No, please. If now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift from my hand. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably. Please accept my blessing that has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough.” Thus he urged him, and he accepted.
Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go before you.” But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for even one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the livestock that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.” So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why should that be? Let me only find favor in the sight of my lord.” So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.
Jacob Settles in Canaan
But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent. There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.