Genesis 33:1-17
New English Translation
Jacob Meets Esau
33 Jacob looked up[a] and saw that Esau was coming[b] along with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. 2 He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them.[c] 3 But Jacob[d] himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached[e] his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept. 5 When Esau[f] looked up[g] and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob[h] replied, “The children whom God has graciously given[i] your servant.” 6 The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down.[j] 7 Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.
8 Esau[k] then asked, “What did you intend[l] by sending all these herds to meet me?”[m] Jacob[n] replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.” 10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said.[o] “If I have found favor in your sight, accept[p] my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me,[q] it is as if I have seen the face of God.[r] 11 Please take my present[s] that was brought to you, for God has been generous[t] to me and I have all I need.”[u] When Jacob urged him, he took it.[v]
12 Then Esau[w] said, “Let’s be on our way![x] I will go in front of you.” 13 But Jacob[y] said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young,[z] and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young.[aa] If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die. 14 Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children,[ab] until I come to my lord at Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.”[ac] “Why do that?” Jacob replied.[ad] “My lord has already been kind enough to me.”[ae]
16 So that same day Esau made his way back[af] to Seir. 17 But[ag] Jacob traveled to Sukkoth[ah] where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called[ai] Sukkoth.[aj]
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- Genesis 33:1 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his eyes.”
- Genesis 33:1 tn Or “and look, Esau was coming.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
- Genesis 33:2 sn This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable.
- Genesis 33:3 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:3 tn Heb “until his drawing near unto his brother.” The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.
- Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
- Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:5 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
- Genesis 33:6 tn Heb “and the female servants drew near, they and their children and they bowed down.”
- Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “Who to you?”
- Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”
- Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:10 tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 33:10 tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.
- Genesis 33:10 tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.
- Genesis 33:10 tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”sn This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22-31) in which Jacob saw the face of God and realized his prayer was answered.
- Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “blessing.” It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.
- Genesis 33:11 tn Or “gracious,” but in the specific sense of prosperity.
- Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “all.”
- Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “and he urged him and he took.” The referent of the first pronoun in the sequence (“he”) has been specified as “Jacob” in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:12 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:12 tn Heb “let us travel and let us go.” The two cohortatives are used in combination with the sense, “let’s travel along, get going, be on our way.”
- Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “weak.”
- Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”
- Genesis 33:14 tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”
- Genesis 33:15 tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.
- Genesis 33:15 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 33:15 tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”
- Genesis 33:16 tn Heb “returned on his way.”
- Genesis 33:17 tn The disjunctive clause contrasts Jacob’s action with Esau’s.
- Genesis 33:17 sn But Jacob traveled to Sukkoth. There are several reasons why Jacob chose not to go to Mt. Seir after Esau. First, as he said, his herds and children probably could not keep up with the warriors. Second, he probably did not fully trust his brother. The current friendliness could change, and he could lose everything. And third, God did tell him to return to his land, not Seir. But Jacob is still not able to deal truthfully, probably because of fear of Esau.
- Genesis 33:17 tn Heb “why he called.” One could understand “Jacob” as the subject of the verb, but it is more likely that the subject is indefinite, in which case the verb is better translated as passive.
- Genesis 33:17 sn The name Sukkoth means “shelters,” an appropriate name in light of the shelters Jacob built there for his livestock.
Genesis 33:1-17
International Standard Version
Jacob Meets Esau
33 When Jacob looked off in the distance, there was Esau coming toward him, accompanied by 400 men! So Jacob divided Leah’s children, Rachel, and the children of the two servants into separate groups.[a] 2 Then he positioned the women servants and their children first, then Leah and her children next, and then Rachel and Joseph after them. 3 Then he went out to meet Esau,[b] passing in front of all of them, and bowed low to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him. Then he fell on his neck and kissed him. And they wept.
5 When Esau eventually looked around, he saw the women and the children. “Who are these people[c] with you?” he asked.
“The children, whom God has graciously given[d] your servant,” he answered. 6 Then the women servants approached, accompanied by their children, and bowed low. 7 Leah also approached, and she and her children bowed low. After this, Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed low.
8 Then Esau asked, “What are all these livestock for?”
“To solicit favor from you,[e] sir,”[f] Jacob answered.
9 But Esau replied, “I already have so much, my brother, so keep what belongs to you.”
10 “Please,” Jacob implored him, “don’t refuse. If I’m to receive favor from you, then receive this gift from me, because seeing your face is like seeing the face of God, since you have favorably accepted me. 11 So receive my blessing, which has been sent to you, since God has been gracious to me. Besides, I have enough.” Because Jacob kept pressing him, Esau accepted the gifts.
12 Then Esau suggested, “Let’s set out and travel together, but let me go in front of you.”
13 “Sir, you know[g] that the children are frail,” Jacob suggested, “and the ewes and cows with me are still nursing their young. If they’re driven even for a day, the entire flock will die. 14 So allow yourself to[h] go ahead of your servant while I travel more slowly, letting the herds set their own pace[i] with the children until I arrive to see my lord in Seir.”
15 Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.”
“Why do that?” Jacob asked. “I’ve already found favor in your sight, sir.”[j] 16 So Esau set out that very day back on his way to Seir, 17 but Jacob set out for Succoth, built a house there, and constructed some cattle shelters. He named the place Succoth.[k]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 33:1 The Heb. lacks into separate groups
- Genesis 33:3 The Heb. lacks went out to meet Esau
- Genesis 33:5 The Heb. lacks people
- Genesis 33:5 The Heb. lacks given
- Genesis 33:8 Lit. from your eyes
- Genesis 33:8 Lit. you, my lord
- Genesis 33:13 Lit. My lord knows
- Genesis 33:14 Lit. So let my lord
- Genesis 33:14 Lit. feet
- Genesis 33:15 Lit. sight, my lord
- Genesis 33:17 The Heb. name Succoth means shelters
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