Genesis 32:1-21 - Jacob Fears Esau

¹ And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him. ² And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now; ⁵ and I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thine eyes.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops. ⁸ And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who saidst unto me: Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good, ¹⁰ I am too small for all the loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops. ¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children. ¹² And thou saidst, I will certainly deal well with thee, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³ And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother -- ¹⁴ two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams; ¹⁵ thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses. ¹⁶ And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.

¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee? ¹⁸ then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.

¹⁹ And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him. ²⁰ And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me.

²¹ And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.