[1] Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him; [2] and when Jacob
saw them he said, "This is God's army!" So he called the name of that place
Mahana'im. [3] And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in
the land of Se'ir, the country of Edom, [4] instructing them, "Thus you
shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, `I have sojourned
with Laban, and stayed until now; [5] and I have oxen, asses, flocks,
menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order
that I may find favor in your sight.'" [6] And the messengers returned to
Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you,
and four hundred men with him." [7] Then Jacob was greatly afraid and
distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks
and herds and camels, into two companies, [8] thinking, "If Esau comes to
the one company and destroys it, then the company which is left will
escape." [9] And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my
father Isaac, O LORD who didst say to me, `Return to your country and to
your kindred, and I will do you good,' [10] I am not worthy of the least of
all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness which thou hast shown to
thy servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have
become two companies. [11] Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my
brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and slay us
all, the mothers with the children. [12] But thou didst say, `I will do you
good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
numbered for multitude.'" [13] So he lodged there that night, and took from
what he had with him a present for his brother Esau, [14] two hundred
she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, [15]
thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty
she-asses and ten he-asses. [16] These he delivered into the hand of his
servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on before
me, and put a space between drove and drove." [17] He instructed the
foremost, "When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, `To whom do you
belong? Where are you going? And whose are these before you?' [18] then you
shall say, `They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to
my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.'" [19] He likewise instructed
the second and the third and all who followed the droves, "You shall say
the same thing to Esau when you meet him, [20] and you shall say, `Moreover
your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he thought, "I may appease him with
the present that goes before me, and afterwards I shall see his face;
perhaps he will accept me." [21] So the present passed on before him; and
he himself lodged that night in the camp. [22] The same night he arose and
took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the
ford of the Jabbok. [23] He took them and sent them across the stream, and
likewise everything that he had. [24] And Jacob was left alone; and a man
wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. [25] When the man saw that
he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and
Jacob's thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. [26] Then he
said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let
you go, unless you bless me." [27] And he said to him, "What is your name?"
And he said, "Jacob." [28] Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called
Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have
prevailed." [29] Then Jacob asked him, "Tell me, I pray, your name." But he
said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. [30] So
Jacob called the name of the place Peni'el, saying, "For I have seen God
face to face, and yet my life is preserved." [31] The sun rose upon him as
he passed Penu'el, limping because of his thigh. [32] Therefore to this day
the Israelites do not eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of
the thigh, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh on the sinew of
the hip.
