New Heart English Bible 1Now Jacob looked up and saw that Esau approaching, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.
2He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph last.
3He himself went on ahead of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he approached his brother. 4Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. And they wept. 5And he looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, "Who are these with you?" He said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." 6Then the female servants came forward with their children, and they bowed themselves. 7Leah also and her children came forward, and bowed themselves. After them, Joseph came forward with Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8Esau said, "What do you mean by all this company which I met?" Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my lord." 9Esau said, "I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself." 10Jacob said, "No, please, if I have now found favor in our sight, then accept my present from my hand, because I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, since you have accepted me. 11Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has been gracious to me, and because I have enough. "Thus he urged him, and he took it. 12Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go ahead of you." 13Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the sheep and cattle with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, the whole herd will die. 14Please let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will move along slowly, at the pace of the herds that are before me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at Seir." 15Esau said, "Let me now leave with you some of my people who are with me. "But he said, "What need is there? Please indulge me, my lord." 16So Esau returned that day on the road to Seir. 17But Jacob traveled to Succoth, and he built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 18After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, and camped near the city. 19He purchased the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent, from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitahs. 20He erected an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel. |