Genesis 32

¹ JJacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.

² And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.

³ And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

⁴ And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day:

⁵ I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,

⁸ Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other company that is left, shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

¹¹ Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children.

¹² Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

¹³ And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau,

¹⁴ Two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and ten of their foals.

¹⁶ And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.

¹⁷ And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee?

¹⁸ Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob’s: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us.

¹⁹ In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.

²⁰ And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

²¹ So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.

²² And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

²³ And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

²⁴ He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.

²⁵ And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

²⁶ And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

²⁷ And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

²⁸ But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?

²⁹ Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

³¹ And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.

³² Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob’s thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.