Study Desk

Now as Jacob went on his way, ^(a)the angels of God met him.

Jacob said when he saw them, "This is God's ^[a]camp." So he named that place ^[b](b)Mahanaim.

Then Jacob ^(c)sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of ^(d)Seir, the ^[c]country of ^(e)Edom.

He also commanded them saying, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, "I have sojourned with Laban, and ^(f)stayed until now;

^(g)I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, ^(h)that I may find favor in your sight."'"

The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore ⁽ⁱ⁾he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."

Then Jacob was ^(j)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies;

for he said, "If Esau comes to the one company and ^[d]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape."

Jacob said, "O ^(k)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord , who said to me, ‘^(l)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will ^[e]prosper you,'

^[f]I am unworthy ^(m)of all the lovingkindness and of all the ^[g]faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.

⁽ⁿ⁾Deliver me, I pray, ^(o)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and ^[h]attack me and the ^(p)mothers with the children.

For You said, ‘^(q)I will surely ^[i]prosper you and ^(r)make your ^[j]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.'"

So he spent the night there. Then he ^[k]selected from what ^[l]he had with him a ^(s)present for his brother Esau:

two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on before me, and put a space between droves."

He commanded the ^[m]one in front, saying, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?'

then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.'"

Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, "After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.'" For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me."

So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.