Genesis 32:3-21 - Jacob Sends Gifts To Esau
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say to my lord Esau, Thus says thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now. 5 And I have oxen, and donkeys, flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants. And I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he comes 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 flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies. 8 And he said, If Esau comes to the one company, and smites it, then the company which is left shall escape.
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, Return to thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good, 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou have shown to thy servant, for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. For I fear him, lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the sons. 12 And thou said, I will surely do thee good, 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 that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: 14 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.
17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose are thou? And where do thou go? And whose are these before thee? 18 Then thou shall say, Thy servant Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord Esau. And, behold, he also is behind us.
19 And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all who followed the herds, saying, On this manner shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him, 20 and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy 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 So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the company.