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 host: and he called the name of
that place Mahanaim.
3 And
Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the
country of Edom.
4 And
he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant
Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5 And
I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have
sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
6 And
the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also
he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
7 Then
Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with
him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8 And
said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company
which is left shall escape.
9 And
Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD
which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will
deal well with thee:
10 I
am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou
hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and
now I am become two bands.
11 Deliver
me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear
him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
12 And
thou saidst, 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 same night; and took of that which came to his hand a
present 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 foals.
16 And
he delivered them into
the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his
servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
17 And
he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and
asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and
whose are these
before thee?
18 Then
thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a
present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind
us.
19 And
so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves,
saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
20 And
say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease
him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face;
peradventure he will accept of me.
21 So
went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
22 And
he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and
his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And
he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
24 And
Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of
the day.
25 And
when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his
thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with
him.
26 And
he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me.
27 And
he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And
he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince
hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And
Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he
said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he
blessed him there.
30 And
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face,
and my life is preserved.
31 And
as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore
the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon
the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of
Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
