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| 33 | Genesis |
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| 1 |
Jacob raised his eyes and saw Esau coming towards him with four hundred men; so he divided the children between Leah and Rachel and the two slave-girls. | Peniel - Jacob meets Esau - Jacob's altar at Shechem. Gn.33.1-20 |
| 2 |
He put the slave-girls with their children in front, Leah with her children next, and Rachel with Joseph last. | |
| 3 |
He then went on ahead of them, bowing low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. | |
| 4 |
Esau ran to meet him and embraced him; he threw his arms round him and kissed him, and they wept. | |
| 5 |
When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he said, 'Who are these with you?' Jacob replied, 'The children whom God has graciously given to your servant.' | |
| 6 |
The slave-girls came near, each with her children, and they bowed low. | |
| 7 |
Then Leah with her children came near and bowed low, and afterwards Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed low also. | |
| 8 |
Esau said, 'What was all that company of yours that I met?' And he answered, 'It was meant to win favour with you, my lord.' | |
| 9 |
Esau answered, 'I have more than enough. Keep what is yours, my brother.' | |
| 10 |
But Jacob said, 'On no account: if I have won your favour, then, I pray, accept this gift from me; for, you see, I come into your presence as into that of a god, and you receive me favourably. | |
| 11 |
Accept this gift which I bring you; for God has been gracious to me, and I have all I want.' So he urged him, and he accepted it. | |
| 12 |
Then Esau said, 'Let us set out, and I will go at your pace.' | |
| 13 |
But Jacob answered him, 'You must know, my lord, that the children are small; the flocks and herds are suckling their young and I am concerned for them, and if the men overdrive them for a single day, all my beasts will die. | |
| 14 |
I beg you, my lord, to go on ahead, and I will go by easy stages at the pace of the children and of the livestock that I am driving, until I come to my lord in Seir.' | |
| 15 |
Esau said, 'Let me detail some of my own men to escort you', but he replied, 'Why should my lord be so kind to me?' | |
| 16 |
That day Esau turned back towards Seir, | |
| 17 |
but Jacob set out for Succoth; and there he built himself a house and made shelters for his cattle. Therefore he named that place Succoth . | |
| 18 |
On his journey from Paddan-aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in Canaan and pitched his tent to the east of it. | |
| 19 |
The strip of country where he had pitched his tent he bought from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem for a hundred sheep . | |
| 20 |
There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohey-Israel . | |
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