Genesis 32–33

Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

32^aJacob also went on his way, and the angels of God^o met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!”^p So he named that place Mahanaim.^bq

³Jacob sent messengers^r ahead of him to his brother Esau^s in the land of Seir,^t the country of Edom.^{u 4}He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord^v Esau: ‘Your servant^w Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban^x and have remained there till now. ⁵I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants.^y Now I am sending this message to my lord,^z that I may find favor in your eyes.^a’ ”

⁶When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”^b

⁷In great fear^c and distress^d Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^ce and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,^d the group^e that is left may escape.”

⁹Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham,^f God of my father Isaac,^g Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’^{h 10}I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulnessⁱ you have shown your servant. I had only my staff^j when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.^{k 11}Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid^l he will come and attack me,^m and also the mothers with their children.^{n 12}But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand^o of the sea, which cannot be counted.^p’ ”

¹³He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift^q for his brother Esau: ¹⁴two 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

¹⁷He 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?’ ¹⁸then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant^u Jacob. They are a gift^v sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”

¹⁹He 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. ²⁰And be sure to say, ‘Your servant^w Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts^x I am sending on ahead;^y later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”^{z 21}So Jacob’s gifts^a went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles With God

²²That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons^b and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.^{c 23}After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.^{d 24}So Jacob was left alone,^e and a man^f wrestled with him till daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip^g so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. ²⁶Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”^h

²⁷The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,”ⁱ he answered.

²⁸Then the man said, “Your name^j will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,^fk because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”^l

²⁹Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”^m

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”ⁿ Then he blessed^o him there.

³⁰So Jacob called the place Peniel,^g saying, “It is because I saw God face to face,^p and yet my life was spared.”

³¹The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,^hq and he was limping because of his hip. ³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip,^r because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Jacob Meets Esau

33Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men;^s so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants.^{t 2}He put the female servants and their children^u in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph^v in the rear. ³He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground^w seven times^x as he approached his brother.

⁴But Esau^y ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.^z And they wept.^{a 5}Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.

Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.^b”

⁶Then the female servants and their children^c approached and bowed down.^{d 7}Next, Leah and her children^e came and bowed down.^f Last of all came Joseph and Rachel,^g and they too bowed down.

⁸Esau asked, “What’s the meaning of all these flocks and herds I met?”^h

“To find favor in your eyes, my lord,”ⁱ he said.

⁹But Esau said, “I already have plenty,^j my brother. Keep what you have for yourself.”

¹⁰“No, please!” said Jacob. “If I have found favor in your eyes,^k accept this gift^l from me. For to see your face is like seeing the face of God,^m now that you have received me favorably.^{n 11}Please accept the present^o that was brought to you, for God has been gracious to me^p and I have all I need.”^q And because Jacob insisted,^r Esau accepted it.

¹²Then Esau said, “Let us be on our way; I’ll accompany you.”

¹³But Jacob said to him, “My lord^s knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young.^t If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds^u before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.^v”

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

“But why do that?” Jacob asked. “Just let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”^w

¹⁶So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir.^{x 17}Jacob, however, went to Sukkoth,^y where he built a place for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place is called Sukkoth.^a

¹⁸After Jacob came from Paddan Aram,^bz he arrived safely at the city of Shechem^a in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. ¹⁹For a hundred pieces of silver,^c he bought from the sons of Hamor,^b the father of Shechem,^c the plot of ground^d where he pitched his tent.^{e 20}There he set up an altar^f and called it El Elohe Israel.^d