Genesis 33:1-17

The Voice

33 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and 400 men were with him. Jacob quickly divided the children among Leah and Rachel and their two servants. ²He put the female servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴But Esau ran to meet him. He embraced Jacob, kissed his neck, and they both cried. ⁵Esau looked up and saw the women and children.

Esau: Who are these people with you?

Jacob: These are the children God has graciously given your servant.

⁶Then the female servants came closer, along with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷Leah did likewise; she and her children approached and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward, and they bowed down as well.

Esau: ⁸What was your intent in sending all of your men and herds ahead of you?

Jacob: I hope to find favor with you, my master.

Esau: ⁹I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.

Jacob expects trouble from Esau, but he finds the pain of the past healed. Now Esau wants nothing from his brother.

Jacob: ¹⁰No, please. If I have found favor with you after all these years, please accept the gifts I offer. Seeing your face again is like seeing the face of God, so graciously and warmly have you welcomed me. ¹¹Please accept the blessing I bring. God has graciously provided for me and my family. I have everything I could want.

Jacob kept insisting that Esau accept the gift. Finally he did.

Esau: ¹²Now let’s be on our way, and I will walk on ahead of you.

Jacob: ¹³My master knows that the children are very small and the nursing flocks and herds are under my care. If they are driven too hard for even one day, I’m afraid I’ll lose all the flocks. ¹⁴Please, my master, go on ahead of me, and I will keep on at a slower pace—the pace of the animals up ahead and the children—until I come to you in Seir.

Esau: ¹⁵Let me leave some of my people to accompany you.

Jacob: Why go to all that trouble? You have done enough already. Just let me find favor with my master.

¹⁶Esau agreed and set out that day to go back to Seir. ¹⁷But Jacob journeyed instead to Succoth, and he built himself a house there and put up some shelters for his cattle. That’s why this place is called Succoth, which means “shelters.”

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