1 And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia, and of Rachel, and of the two handmaids: 2 And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground seven times until his brother came near. 4 Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept. 5 And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are the children which God hath given to me thy servant. 6 Then the handmaids and their children came near, and bowed themselves. 7 Lia also with her children came near, and bowed down in like manner, and last of all Joseph and Rachel bowed down. 8 And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I might find favour before my lord. 9 But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for thyself. 10 And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be gracious to me, 11 And take the blessing, which I have brought thee, and which God hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his brother’s earnest pressing him, 12 And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey. 13 And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die. 14 May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to my lord in Seir. 15 Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people at least, who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said: There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my lord, in thy sight. 16 So Esau returned, that day, the way that he came, to Seir. 17 And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents. 18 And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town: 19 And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem for a hundred lambs. 20 And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.
Genesis · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Genesis 33 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Rachel
Jacob's beloved wife, mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who died in childbirth.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 29-35
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 32:6–7; Genesis 27:41–42; Genesis 32:16
- 2 Malachi 3:17; Genesis 30:22–24; Genesis 37:3; Genesis 29:30
- 3 Genesis 42:6; Luke 14:11; Genesis 18:2; Genesis 43:26; Ecclesiastes 10:4
- 4 Genesis 45:14–15; Psalm 34:4; Luke 15:20; Genesis 32:28; Genesis 45:2
- 5 Psalm 127:3; Isaiah 8:18; Genesis 48:9; 1 Chronicles 28:5; 1 Samuel 1:27
- 8 Genesis 32:5; Genesis 39:5; Genesis 32:13–20; Esther 2:17
- 9 Genesis 27:39; Philemon 7; Proverbs 16:7; Acts 9:17; Judges 20:23
- 10 Job 33:26; Revelation 22:4; Genesis 32:30; Jeremiah 31:2; Exodus 33:12–13
- 11 Philippians 4:18; 1 Samuel 25:27; Genesis 33:9; 2 Kings 5:23; Genesis 30:43
- 13 Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:15–16; John 21:15–17; 1 Chronicles 22:5; Proverbs 12:10
- 14 Isaiah 40:11; Genesis 32:3; Romans 15:1; Ezekiel 35:2–3; Mark 4:33
- 15 Ruth 2:13; Genesis 34:11; Genesis 47:25; 1 Samuel 25:8; 2 Samuel 16:4
- 17 Psalm 60:6; Judges 8:5; Joshua 13:27; Judges 8:8; Judges 8:16
- 18 Judges 9:1; Joshua 24:1; Acts 7:16; John 4:5; Genesis 25:20
- 19 Acts 7:16; John 4:5; Joshua 24:32; Genesis 34:2–31; Genesis 23:17–20
- 20 Genesis 35:7; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 32:28; Genesis 8:20; Genesis 12:7–8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… to have so come to pass; for those blessings which say, "Be lord over thy brother, and let thy father's sons worship thee," had no accomplishment in himself (how could they, he being in fear and trembling, and worshipping his brother over and over again? ), but in his offspring they had.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… threescore and fifteen souls," he says, "Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he and our fathers, and were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem." (v.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)