Genesis 32:1–33:20

Jacob Fears Esau

32Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ²And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s ^tcamp!” So he called the name of that place ^uMahanaim.¹

³And Jacob sent² messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ^vSeir, the country of Edom, ⁴instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ^wI may find favor in your sight.’ ”

⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^xhe is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” ⁷Then Jacob was ^ygreatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, ⁸thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, ^z“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ^asaid to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ ^10bI am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ^cI fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. ¹²But ^dyou said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”

¹³So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took ^ea present for his brother Esau, ¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” ¹⁷He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ ¹⁸then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’ ” ¹⁹He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, ²⁰and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I may appease him³ with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”^{4 21}So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²²The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,⁵ and crossed the ford of the ^fJabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone. And ^ga man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, ^h“I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then he said, ⁱ“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,⁶ for ^jyou have striven with God and ^kwith men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, ^l“Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,⁷ saying, “For ^mI have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed ⁿPenuel, limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.

Jacob Meets Esau

33And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^oEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ²And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³He himself went on before them, ^pbowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4qBut Esau ran to meet him and embraced him ^rand fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, ^s“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸Esau said, “What do you mean by ^tall this company¹ that I met?” Jacob answered, ^u“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. ^vFor I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹Please accept my ^wblessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he ^xurged him, and he took it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of² you.” ¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord ^yin Seir.”

¹⁵So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? ^zLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to ^aSeir. ¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to ^bSuccoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.³

¹⁸And Jacob came safely⁴ to the city of ^cShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. ¹⁹And from the sons of ^dHamor, Shechem’s father, ^ehe bought for a hundred pieces of money⁵ the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. ²⁰There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.⁶