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Genesis 43:1-15
/RSS FeedGenesis 43:1-15
1 Now the famine was still severe in the land.
2 So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’
4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5 But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
6 “Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”
8 And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children.
9 I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life.
10 If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.”
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
12 Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake.
13 Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once.
14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. -
Genesis 33:1-20
/RSS FeedGenesis 33:1-20
1 Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.
2 He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.
3 But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
4 Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.
5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
6 Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down.
7 Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.
8 “What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.
9 “I already have plenty, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what belongs to you.”
10 But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably.
11 Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have all I need.” So Jacob pressed him until he accepted.
12 Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you.”
13 But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.
14 Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a comfortable pace for the livestock and children, until I come to my lord at Seir.”
15 “Let me leave some of my people with you,” Esau said. But Jacob replied, “Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.”
16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,
17 but Jacob went on to Succoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.
18 After Jacob had come from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped just outside the city.
19 And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.
20 There he set up an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.
