13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a giftq for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,r 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.s 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”t

17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servantu Jacob. They are a giftv sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”

19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servantw Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these giftsx I am sending on ahead;y later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”z 21 So Jacob’s giftsa went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.