Genesis 33 :: New International Version (NIV)

Jacob Meets Esau

Gen 33:1Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants.

Gen 33:2

Gen 33:2He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.

Gen 33:3

Gen 33:3He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

Gen 33:4

Gen 33:4But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

Gen 33:5

Gen 33:5Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked. Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

Gen 33:6

Gen 33:6Then the female servants and their children approached and bowed down.

Gen 33:7

Gen 33:7Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down. Last of all came Joseph and Rachel, and they too bowed down.

Gen 33:8

Gen 33:8Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?” “To find favor in your eyes, my lord,” he said.

Gen 33:9

Gen 33:9But Esau said, “I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”

Gen 33:10

Gen 33:10“No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably.

Gen 33:11

Gen 33:11Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau accepted it.

Gen 33:12

Gen 33:12Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”

Gen 33:13

Gen 33:13But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

Gen 33:14

Gen 33:14So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

Gen 33:15

Gen 33:15Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.” “But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

Gen 33:16

Gen 33:16So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir.

Gen 33:17

Gen 33:17Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth, where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.[fn]

Gen 33:18

Gen 33:18After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,[fn] he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city.

Gen 33:19

Gen 33:19For a hundred pieces of silver,[fn] he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.

Gen 33:20

Gen 33:20There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.[fn]

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(33:17)

Sukkoth means shelters.

(33:18)

That is, Northwest Mesopotamia

(33:19)

Hebrew hundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.

(33:20)

El Elohe Israel can mean El is the God of Israel or mighty is the God of Israel.

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