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 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 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 softly, according to the pace of the cattle that is 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. =§17. The Altar of Beth-el= (Gen. 35:1-7) And God said unto Jacob, "Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother." Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with them, "Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." [Illustration] And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and a great terror was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Beth-el, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, because there God was revealed unto him when he fled from the face of his brother. THE MEANING OF THE STORY 43 (§13). There is a long and interesting story of Jacob's marriage and of his twenty years' service with Laban. It was a hard service, for Laban was a hard master and was very jealous of the prosperity of his son-in-law. But in spite of difficulty Jacob was successful, though in the game of wits he was not always very scrupulous. At last he determined to return to his own land, but was obliged to go secretly for fear of Laban. Even so, Laban pursued him and there was a hot dispute. But at last they made a covenant of peace, and parted. Jacob journeyed as far as the brook Jabbok, a stream which flows westward into the Jordan, about twenty-five miles north of the Dead Sea. Locate it on the map.