Genesis 31:55–33:20

^55y And Laban arose early in the morning and kissed his grandsons^z and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his homeland.

Jacob Fears Esau

32And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him. ²And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is the camp of God!” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the territory of Edom. ⁴And he instructed them, saying, “Thus you must say to my lord, to Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have dwelled as an alien with Laban, and I have remained there until now. ⁵And I have acquired cattle, male donkeys, flocks, and male and female slaves, and I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.’ ” ⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷Then Jacob was very frightened and distressed. So he divided the people, flocks, cattle, and camels that were with him into two companies. ⁸And he thought, “If Esau comes to one company and destroys it, the remaining company will be able to escape.” ⁹Then Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your family, and I will deal well with you.’ ¹⁰I am not worthy^a of all the loyal love and all the faithfulness that you have shown^b your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, mother and children alike. ¹²Now you yourself said, ‘I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring as the sand of the sea that cannot be counted for abundance.’ ”

¹³And he lodged there that night. Then he took from what he had with him^c a gift for Esau his brother: ¹⁴two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶And he put them under the hand of his servants, herd by herd,^d and said to his servants, “Cross on ahead before me, and put some distance between herds.^{e 17}And he instructed the foremost, saying, “When Esau my brother comes upon you and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you and where are you going? To whom do these animals belong ahead of you?’ ¹⁸Then you must say, ‘To your servant, to Jacob. It is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. Now behold, he is also coming after us.’ ” ¹⁹And he also instructed the second servant and the third, and everyone else who was behind the herds, saying, “You must speak to Esau according to this word when you find him. ²⁰And moreover, you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he thought, “Let me appease him^f with the gift going before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will show me favor.”^{g 21}So the gift passed on before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²²That night he arose and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³And he took them and sent them across the stream. Then he sent across all his possessions. ²⁴And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the dawn. ²⁵And when he^h saw that he could not prevail against him, he struck his hip socket, so that Jacob’s hip socket was sprained as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then heⁱ said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking.” But he answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷Then he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^j for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked and said, “Please tell me your name.” And he said, “Why do you ask this—for my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰Then Jacob called the name of the place Peniel which means “I have seen God face to face and my life was spared.” ³¹Then the sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore the Israelites^k do not eat the sinew of the sciatic nerve that is upon the socket of the hip unto this day, because he struck the socket of the thigh of Jacob at the sinew of the sciatic nerve.

Jacob Meets Esau and Settles at Shechem

33And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, Esau was coming and four hundred men were with him. And he^a divided the children among Leah and among Rachel, and among the two of his female slaves. ²And he put the female slaves and their children first, then Leah and her children next, then Rachel with Joseph last. ³And he himself passed on before them and bowed down to the ground seven times until he came to his brother. ⁴But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵Then Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” And he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶Then the female slaves drew near, they and their children, and they bowed down. ⁷Then Leah and her children drew near and bowed down, and afterward Joseph and Rachel drew near and they bowed down. ⁸And he^b said, “What do you mean by^c all this company that I have met?” Then he said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.” ⁹Then Esau said, “I have enough^d my brother; keep what you have.”^{e 10}And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your eyes, you must take my gift from my hand, for then I have seen your face which is like seeing the face of God, and you have received me. ¹¹Please take my gift which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.”^f And he urged him, so he took it. ¹²Then he^g said, “Let us journey and go on, and I will go ahead of you.” ¹³But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and the flocks and the cattle which are nursing are a concern to me. Now if they drove them hard for a day all the flocks would die. ¹⁴Let my lord pass on before his servant and I will move along slowly at the pace^h of the livestock that are ahead of me, and at the paceⁱ of the children until I come to my lord in Seir.” ¹⁵And Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.” But he said, “What need is there?^j Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.” ¹⁶So Esau turned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷But Jacob traveled on to Succoth, and he built for himself a house, and he made shelters for his livestock. Therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. ¹⁸And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan, on his way^k from Paddan-Aram. And he camped before the city. ¹⁹And he bought a piece of land where he pitched his tent for one hundred pieces of money^l from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem. ²⁰And there he erected an altar and called it “El Elohe Israel.”^m