Genesis 32:1–33:20

Jacob to Meet Esau

32As Jacob went on his way, some angels met him. ²When he saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp”; so he called the place Mahanaim.ⁱ

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the country of Edom. ⁴He instructed them to say: “I, Jacob, your obedient servant, report to my master Esau that I have been staying with Laban and that I have delayed my return until now. ⁵I own cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and slaves. I am sending you word, sir, in the hope of gaining your favour.”

⁶When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you. He has four hundred men with him.” ⁷Jacob was frightened and worried. He divided into two groups the people who were with him, and also his sheep, goats, cattle, and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks the first group, the other may be able to escape.”

⁹Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac, hear me! You told me, Lord, to go back to my land and to my relatives, and you would make everything go well for me. ¹⁰I am not worth all the kindness and faithfulness that you have shown me, your servant. I crossed the Jordan with nothing but a walking stick, and now I have come back with these two groups. ¹¹Save me, I pray, from my brother Esau. I am afraid—afraid that he is coming to attack us and destroy us all, even the women and children. ^12*Remember that you promised to make everything go well for me and to give me more descendants than anyone could count, as many as the grains of sand along the seashore.”

^13–15After spending the night there, Jacob chose from his livestock as a present for his brother Esau: 200 female goats and twenty males, 200 female sheep and twenty males, 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten males. ¹⁶He divided them into herds and put one of his servants in charge of each herd. He said to them, “Go ahead of me, and leave a space between each herd and the one behind it.” ¹⁷He ordered the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these animals in front of you?’ ¹⁸you must answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sends them as a present to his master Esau. Jacob himself is just behind us.’ ” ¹⁹He gave the same order to the second, the third, and to all the others who were in charge of the herds: “This is what you must say to Esau when you meet him. ²⁰You must say, ‘Yes, your servant Jacob is just behind us.’ ” Jacob was thinking, “I will win him over with the gifts, and when I meet him, perhaps he will forgive me.” ²¹He sent the gifts on ahead of him and spent that night in camp.

Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

²²That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the River Jabbok. ²³After he had sent them across, he also sent across all that he owned, ^24*but he stayed behind, alone.

Then a man came and wrestled with him until just before daybreak. ^25*When the man saw that he was not winning the struggle, he struck Jacob on the hip, and it was thrown out of joint. ^26*The man said, “Let me go; daylight is coming.”

“I won’t, unless you bless me,” Jacob answered.

²⁷“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he answered.

^28*The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel.”^j

^29*Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”

But he answered, “Why do you want to know my name?” Then he blessed Jacob.

³⁰Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive”; so he named the place Peniel.^{k 31}The sun rose as Jacob was leaving Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Even today the descendants of Israel do not eat the muscle which is on the hip joint, because it was on this muscle that Jacob was struck.

Jacob Meets Esau

33Jacob saw Esau coming with his 400 men, so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two concubines. ²He put the concubines and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph at the rear. ³Jacob went ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴But Esau ran to meet him, threw his arms round him, and kissed him. They were both crying. ⁵When Esau looked round and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?”

“These, sir, are the children whom God has been good enough to give me,” Jacob answered. ⁶Then the concubines came up with their children and bowed down; ⁷then Leah and her children came, and last of all Joseph and Rachel came and bowed down.

⁸Esau asked, “What about that other group I met? What did that mean?”

Jacob answered, “It was to gain your favour.”

⁹But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have.”

¹⁰Jacob said, “No, please, if I have gained your favour, accept my gift. To see your face is for me like seeing the face of God, now that you have been so friendly to me. ¹¹Please accept this gift which I have brought for you; God has been kind to me and given me everything I need.” Jacob kept on urging him until he accepted.

¹²Esau said, “Let’s prepare to leave. I will go ahead of you.”

¹³Jacob answered, “You know that the children are weak, and I must think of the sheep and cattle with their young. If they are driven hard for even one day, the whole herd will die. ¹⁴Please go on ahead of me, and I will follow slowly, going as fast as I can with the livestock and the children until I catch up with you in Edom.”

¹⁵Esau said, “Then let me leave some of my men with you.”

But Jacob answered, “There is no need for that for I only want to gain your favour.”^{l 16}So that day Esau started on his way back to Edom. ¹⁷But Jacob went to Sukkoth, where he built a house for himself and shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was named Sukkoth.^m

¹⁸On his return from Mesopotamia Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan and set up his camp in a field near the city. ^19*He bought that part of the field from the descendants of Hamor father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. ²⁰He put up an altar there and named it after El, the God of Israel.