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Jacob met Esau again
1 Jacob and his family kept on walking towards the place where Jacob’s brother Esau was. Then Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming towards him with 400 men. So Jacob stopped walking, and he split up his family into groups. He put his wife Leah with her kids, and he put his wife Rachel with her son Joseph, and he put his 2 working women with their kids.
2-3 Then they all started walking towards Esau again. Jacob walked in front, then the 2 working women and their kids, then Leah and her kids, then Rachel and her son Joseph. And Jacob got down on his knees and put his face near the ground, to show respect to his brother Esau. He did that 7 times, until he got near to Esau.
4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob. Then he put his arms around Jacob, and he hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. And Esau and Jacob both cried.
5 Then Esau looked up, and he saw the women and their kids. Esau said, “Who are these people with you?”
Jacob said, “These are my kids. God was very good to me, and he gave me these kids.”
6 Then Jacob’s 2 working women and their kids, they came over to Esau, and they got down on their knees to show him respect.
7 Then Leah and her kids, they did the same thing. They came over to Esau, and they got down on their knees. Then Rachel and her son Joseph, they came over and got down on their knees too.
8 Then Esau said to Jacob, “I met your work-men walking along this road, and they gave me lots of animals, and they said, ‘These animals are a present from Jacob.’ Why did you send those animals to me?”
Jacob said, “I respect you, just like a work-man respects his boss, and I want you to be happy with me. That’s the reason why I sent those animals to you.”
9 But Esau said, “My brother, I already have lots of animals, and I don’t need any more. Those animals that you sent to me, they belong to you. Keep them for yourself.”
10 Then Jacob said to Esau, “No, I want you to have them. Please take them as a present from me. Then I will know for sure that you are happy with me. You know, when I saw you again, you were so friendly to me, it was like I saw God’s face.
11 So please take the present that I sent to you. God has given me lots of good things, and I already have everything that I need.”
Jacob kept on talking like that, so Esau took those animals as a present from Jacob.
12 Then Esau said, “Let’s go now. Let’s go to Seir, to the place where I live. We will go there together.”
13 But Jacob said to Esau, “Sir, as you can see, my kids are young, and they can’t walk very fast. And some of my animals have baby animals with them, and I have to look after those animals. If I make them walk fast, they will die after one day.
14 So please, sir, you go ahead. I will walk slowly with my kids and animals. Later on, we will see you there in Seir.”
15 So Esau said, “All right. But I will leave some of my men with you, to help you.”
But Jacob said, “Sir, you don’t need to do that. You saw me, and you were friendly to me, so now I am happy. I don’t need anything else.”
16 So that same day, Esau left that place, and he went south to go back home to Seir.
17 But Jacob and his family, they went west. They stopped in the land there, and Jacob built a house, and he made shelters for his animals. Jacob called that place Succoth. That name means shelters.
Jacob went back to Canaan country
18 Jacob was born in Canaan country, and he grew up there. But then he went to Paddan Aram country for a long time. Now he finally got back to his home country again. When he got there, he set up his camp on some land outside the town called Shekem.
19 That land where Jacob put his tent, it belonged to a man called Shekem and his brothers. Their father was called Hamor. And Jacob bought that land from Shekem and his brothers. He paid them 100 pieces of silver money for that land.
20 Then Jacob piled up stones there to make a special table with a flat top, so that he could burn animals to show respect to God. And Jacob called it The God of Israel is God.