¹ Jakob hob seine Augen auf und sah seinen Bruder Esau kommen mit vierhundert Mann. Und er teilte seine Kinder zu Lea und Rahel und zu den beiden Mägden

² und stellte die Mägde mit ihren Kindern vornean und Lea mit ihren Kindern hernach und Rahel mit Joseph zuletzt.

³ Und er ging vor ihnen her und neigte sich siebenmal auf die Erde, bis er zu seinem Bruder kam.

⁴ Esau aber lief ihm entgegen und herzte ihn und fiel ihm um den Hals und küßte ihn; und sie weinten.

⁵ Und er hob seine Augen auf und sah die Weiber mit den Kindern und sprach: Wer sind diese bei dir? Er antwortete: Es sind Kinder, die Gott deinem Knecht beschert hat.

⁶ Und die Mägde traten herzu mit ihren Kindern und neigten sich vor ihm.

⁷ Lea trat auch herzu mit ihren Kindern und neigten sich vor ihm. Darnach trat Joseph und Rahel herzu und neigten sich auch vor ihm.

⁸ Und er sprach: Was willst du mit all dem Heere, dem ich begegnet bin? Er antwortete: Daß ich Gnade fände vor meinem Herrn.

⁹ Esau sprach: Ich habe genug, mein Bruder; behalte was du hast.

¹⁰ Jakob antwortete: Ach, nicht! Habe ich Gnade gefunden vor dir, so nimm mein Geschenk von meiner Hand; denn ich sah dein Angesicht, als sähe ich Gottes Angesicht; und laß dir's wohl gefallen von mir.

¹¹ Nimm doch den Segen von mir an, den ich dir zugebracht habe; denn Gott hat mir's beschert, und ich habe alles genug. Also nötigte er ihn, daß er's nahm.

¹² Und er sprach: Laß uns fortziehen und reisen, ich will mit dir ziehen.

¹³ Er aber sprach zu ihm: Mein Herr, du erkennest, daß ich zarte Kinder bei mir habe, dazu säugende Schafe und Kühe; wenn sie einen Tag übertrieben würden, würde mir die ganze Herde sterben.

¹⁴ Mein Herr ziehe vor seinem Knechte hin. Ich will gemächlich hintennach treiben, nach dem das Vieh und die Kinder gehen können, bis daß ich komme zu meinem Herrn nach Seir.

¹⁵ Esau sprach: So will ich doch etliche bei dir lassen vom Volk, das mit mir ist. Er antwortete: Was ist's vonnöten? Laß mich nur Gnade vor meinem Herrn finden.

¹⁶ Also zog des Tages Esau wiederum seines Weges gen Seir.

¹⁷ Und Jakob zog gen Sukkoth und baute sich ein Haus und machte seinem Vieh Hütten; daher heißt die Stätte Sukkoth.

¹⁸ Darnach zog Jakob mit Frieden zu der Stadt Sichems, die im Lande Kanaan liegt (nachdem er aus Mesopotamien gekommen war), und machte sein Lager vor der Stadt

¹⁹ und kaufte ein Stück Acker von den Kindern Hemors, des Vaters Sichems, um hundert Groschen; daselbst richtete er seine Hütte auf.

²⁰ Und er richtete daselbst einen Altar zu und rief an den Namen des starken Gottes Israels.

¹ Yahweh said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your fathers' house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

² Your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, bring near with you, that they may be joined to you, and minister to you: but you and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the testimony.

³ They shall keep your commands, and the duty of all the Tent: only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they, nor you.

⁴ They shall be joined to you, and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent: and a stranger shall not come near to you.

⁵ "You shall perform the duty of the sanctuary, and the duty of the altar; that there be wrath no more on the children of Israel.

⁶ I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are a gift, given to Yahweh, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

⁷ You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil; and you shall serve: I give you the priesthood as a service of gift: and the stranger who comes near shall be put to death."

⁸ Yahweh spoke to Aaron, "I, behold, I have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel; to you have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever.

⁹ This shall be yours of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for you and for your sons.

¹⁰ You shall eat of it like the most holy things. Every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to you.

¹¹ "This is yours, too: the wave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹² "All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh, to you have I given them.

¹³ The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours; everyone who is clean in your house shall eat of it.

¹⁴ "Everything devoted in Israel shall be yours.

¹⁵ Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal shall be yours: nevertheless you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and you shall redeem the firstborn of unclean animals.

¹⁶ You shall redeem those who are to be redeemed of them from a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of money, after the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs).

¹⁷ "But you shall not redeem the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat. They are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.

¹⁸ Their flesh shall be yours, as the wave offering breast and as the right thigh, it shall be yours.

¹⁹ All the wave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to Yahweh, have I given you, and your sons and your daughters with you, as a portion forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before Yahweh to you and to your seed with you."

²⁰ Yahweh said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

²¹ "To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²² Henceforth the children of Israel shall not come near the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin, and die.

²³ But the Levites shall do the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

²⁴ For the tithe of the children of Israel, which they offer as a wave offering to Yahweh, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance: therefore I have said to them, 'Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.'"

²⁵ Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶ "Moreover you shall speak to the Levites, and tell them, 'When you take of the children of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall offer up a wave offering of it for Yahweh, a tithe of the tithe.

²⁷ Your wave offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

²⁸ Thus you also shall offer a wave offering to Yahweh of all your tithes, which you receive of the children of Israel; and of it you shall give Yahweh's wave offering to Aaron the priest.

²⁹ Out of all your gifts you shall offer every wave offering of Yahweh, of all its best, even the holy part of it out of it.'

³⁰ "Therefore you shall tell them, 'When you heave its best from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

³¹ You shall eat it in every place, you and your households: for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.

³² You shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have heaved from it its best: and you shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, that you not die.'"