And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob
saw them, he said, This is God’s
host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers
before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And
he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant
Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: And
I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have
sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers
returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to
meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and
distressed: and he divided the people that was
with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; And said,
If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is
left shall escape. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my
father Isaac, the Lord which
saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal
well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the
truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over
this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the
hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come
and smite me, and the mother with the
children. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the
sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. And he lodged there
that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his
brother; Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and
twenty rams, Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls,
twenty she asses, and ten foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and
said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and
drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth
thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art
thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are
these before thee? Then thou shalt say, They
be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau:
and, behold, also he is behind us. And
so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves,
saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. And say ye
moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is
behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before
me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. So
went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants,
and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and
sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone;
and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he
saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and
the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he
said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be
called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and
with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I
pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is
it that thou dost ask after my name?
And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I
have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over
Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore the
children of Israel eat not of the
sinew which shrank, which is upon the
hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s
thigh in the sinew that shrank.
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