33
Jacob and his family meet Esau
1 When Jacob was leaving that place, he looked up and saw Esau coming towards him with his 400 men. So Jacob quickly split up his wives with their children into 3 groups. 2 He put Bilhah and Zilpah and their children in the first group, then Leah and her children in the next group and then Rachel and Joseph behind them. 3 Jacob went out the front and walked towards his brother. On the way, he stopped and bowed down to the ground 7 times to show respect for his brother.
4 But Esau ran towards Jacob and put his arms around him and kissed him. Both Esau and Jacob were so happy they cried together. 5 Esau looked at the women and children standing there and said, “Who are all these people with you?”
Jacob said, “God has been very good to me! He gave me these wives and children.”
6 Then Bilhah and Zilpah, the 2 women that worked for Leah and Rachel took all their children to Esau and they all bowed down to him. 7 Next, Leah came with her children and they did the same thing. Last of all, Rachel and Joseph bowed down to the ground in front of Esau.
8 Then Esau said, “On the way here, I came across workmen with big groups of animals. What was that all about?”
Jacob said, “I wanted to give you a present so that you would be happy to see me.”
9 But Esau said, “I already have a lot of animals. You keep them.”
10 Jacob said, “No, if you are happy to see me, please take them. I am really happy to see your face with a smile on it. It is like seeing God himself. 11 Please take my present, you see, God has been so good to me and I have more than I need.” Jacob kept on talking like that and so Esau was happy to take the animals.
12 Esau said, “Let's get going. I will lead you to my country.”
13 But Jacob answered, “My brother, you can see that some of my children are a little bit weak and my animals have little ones too. You and your men can move fast, but we can't. If we try to keep up with you, even for one day, all the animals would die. 14 So, you go ahead of us and we will follow you slowly. We will walk as fast as the animals and children can go. We will see you in Seir.”
15 Esau answered, “Ok, but I think I will leave some of my men to show you the way.”
Jacob answered and said, “Thank you my brother, but you do not need to do that. I am just happy that you are friendly towards me.”
16 And so, Esau and his men left Jacob and started to go back to their home in Seir.
17 But Jacob did not follow Esau down to Seir. He went to Su-coat and built a house to live in and made shelters for his animals as well. In their language Su-coat means shelters.
18 And so, that is how Jacob and all his family left his uncle's country in Harran and travelled safely to a place called Su-coat. Then they moved to just outside the town of Shekem in Canaan. And it was there that he made his camp. 19 The leader for that country was named Hamor and one of his sons was named Sheckem. Jacob paid Hamor's sons 100 pieces of silver for the land he was camping on. 20 Jacob made an altar out of stones with a flat top and called it, This altar belongs to God, the God of Israel.