ll on his
neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and
saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with thee?"

And he said, "The children which God hath graciously given thy
servant."

Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed
themselves. And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed
themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed
themselves. And he said, "What meanest thou by all this company which
I met?"

And he said, "To find grace in the sight of my lord." And Esau said,
"I have enough; my brother, let that which thou hast be thine."

And Jacob said, "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy
sight, then receive my present at my hand: forasmuch as I have seen
thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
Take, I {84} pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee; because God
hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough."

And he urged him, and he took it.

And he said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go
before thee."

And he said unto him, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender,
and that the flocks and herds with me have their young: and if they
overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. Let my lord, I pray
thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on gently,
according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according
to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir."

And Esau said, "Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are
with me."

And he said, "What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my
lord."

So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. And Jacob journeyed to
Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle:
therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land
of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the
city. And he bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent,
at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred
pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it "God,
the God of Israel."

{85}{86}

[Illustration]
BETHEL

Photograph taken by Mrs. Frank L. Goodspeed, of Springfield, Mass.,
and used by her kind permission.

One of Abraham's camping grounds and the place of Jacob's dream.
[End illustration]

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