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Jacob Meets Esau

¹ Then Jacob looked up, and saw ^(C1)Esau coming with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids.² He put the maids and their children in front, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last of all.³ Then Jacob crossed over the stream ahead of them and ^(C1)bowed himself to the ground seven times bowing and moving forward each time, until he approached his brother.

⁴ But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and ^(C1)hugged his neck and kissed him, and they wept for joy. ^(VR1)5 Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" So Jacob replied, "They are ^(C1)the children whom God has graciously given your servant."⁶ Then the maids approached with their children, and they bowed down.⁷ Leah also approached with her children, and they bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel approached, and they bowed down.⁸ Esau asked, "What do you mean by ^(C1)all this company which I have met?" And he answered, "These are to ^(C2)find favor in the sight of my lord."⁹ But Esau said, "^(C1)I have plenty, my brother; keep what you have for yourself."¹⁰ Jacob replied, "No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then accept my gift as a blessing from my hand, for I see your face as if I had seen the face of God, and you have received me favorably.¹¹ "Please accept my ^(C1)blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, ^(C2)for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything that I could possibly want." So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

¹² Then Esau said, "Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you to lead the way."¹³ But Jacob replied, "You know, my lord, that the children are frail and need gentle care, and the nursing flocks and herds with young are of concern to me; for if the men should drive them hard for a single day, all the flocks will die.¹⁴ "Please let my lord go on ahead of his servant, and I will move on slowly, governed by the pace of the livestock that are in front of me and according to the endurance of the children, ^(F1)until I come to my lord in ^(C1)Seir in Edom."

¹⁵ Then Esau said, "Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me." But Jacob said, "^(F1)What need is there for it? ^(C1)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."¹⁶ So Esau turned back toward the south that day on his way to Seir.¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed north to ^(C1)Succoth, and built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock; so the name of the place is Succoth (huts, shelters).

Jacob Settles in Shechem

¹⁸ When Jacob came from ^(C1)Paddan-aram, he arrived safely and in peace at the city of ^(C2)Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and camped in front of the walled city.¹⁹ Then ^(C1)he bought the piece of land on which he had pitched his tents from ^(F1)the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred ^(F2)pieces of money.²⁰ There he erected an altar and called it ^(F1)El-Elohe-Israel.