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 God's camp. And he called the name of that place Two Camps.

³ And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, So shall you speak to my lord Esau: Your servant Jacob says thus, I have lived with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵ And I have oxen and asses, flocks, and menservants, and slave women. And I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in your sight.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him. ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people with him, and the flocks and herds, and the camels, into two bands. ⁸ And he said, If Esau comes to the one company and strikes it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said, Oh God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who said to me, Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you: ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have done to Your servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two bands. ¹¹ Deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. For I fear him, lest he come and strike me, from mother to sons. ¹² And You said, I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³ And he lodged there that night. And he took of that which came to his hand, a present for Esau his brother ¹⁴ two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. ¹⁶ And he delivered into the hands of his servants, every drove by themselves. And he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove.

¹⁷ And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you saying, To whom do you belong? and, Where do you go? And whose are these before you? ¹⁸ Then you shall say, Your servant Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord Esau. And, behold, he also is behind us.

¹⁹ And so he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him. ²⁰ And also you shall say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.

²¹ And the present went over before him. And he himself lodged that night in the camp.