Genesis 32:1–33:20

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

³And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom. ⁴And 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; ⁵and 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. ⁶And 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. ⁷Then 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. ⁸And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.

⁹And 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. ¹¹Deliver 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. ¹²And 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.

¹³And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother— ¹⁴two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams; ¹⁵thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And, 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. ²¹And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp. ²²And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok; ²³and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.

²⁴And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn. ²⁵And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. ²⁷And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed. ²⁹And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel—For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved. ³¹And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip. ³²Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh, to this day; because he touched the joint of Jacob’s thigh—the sinew.

Chapter 33

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants: ²and he put the maidservants and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost. ³And he passed on before them, and bowed to the earth seven times, until he came near to his brother. ⁴And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant. ⁶And the maidservants drew near, they and their children, and they bowed. ⁷And Leah also, with her children, drew near, and they bowed. And lastly Joseph drew near, and Rachel, and they bowed. ⁸And he said, What meanest thou by all the drove which I met? And he said, To find favour in the eyes of my lord. ⁹And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let what thou hast be thine. ¹⁰And Jacob said, No, I pray thee; if now I have found favour in thine eyes, then receive my gift from my hand; for therefore have I seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou hast received me with pleasure. ¹¹Take, I pray thee, my blessing which has been brought to thee; because God has been gracious to me, and because I have everything. And he urged him, and he took it. ¹²And he said, Let us take our journey, and go on, and I will go before thee. ¹³And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and the suckling sheep and kine are with me; and if they should overdrive them only one day, all the flock would die. ¹⁴Let my lord, I pray thee, pass on before his servant, and I will drive on at my ease according to the pace of the cattle that is before me, and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir. ¹⁵And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the people that are with me. And he said, What need? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.

¹⁶And Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and for his cattle he made booths. Therefore the name of the place was called Succoth. ¹⁸And Jacob came safely to the city Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram; and he encamped before the city. ¹⁹And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread his tent, of the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitahs. ²⁰And there he set up an altar, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.