1 THEN JACOB went on his way, and God's angels met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's army! So he named that place Mahanaim [two armies].
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 And he commanded them, Say this to my lord Esau: Your servant Jacob says this: I have been living temporarily with Laban and have stayed there till now. 5 And I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and women servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find mercy and kindness in your sight.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau; and now he is [on the way] to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups, 8 Thinking, If Esau comes to the one group and smites it, then the other group which is left will escape.
9 Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord Who said to me, Return to your country and to your people and I will do you good, 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercy and loving-kindness and all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant, for with [only] my staff I passed over this Jordan [long ago], and now I have become two companies. 11 Deliver me, I pray You, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite [us all], the mothers with the children. 12 And You said, I will surely do you good and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
13 And Jacob lodged there that night and took from what he had with him as a present for his brother Esau: 14 Two hundred she-goats, 20 he-goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 15 Thirty milk camels with their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 she-donkeys, and 10 [donkey] colts. 16 And he put them into the charge of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Pass over before me and put a space between drove and drove. 17 And he commanded the first, When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, where you are going, and whose are the animals before you, 18 Then you shall say, They are your servant Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover, he is behind us. 19 And so he commanded the second and the third and all that followed the droves, saying, This is what you are to say to Esau when you meet him. 20 And say, Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. 21 So the present went on before him, and he himself lodged that night in the camp.