And Jacob went on his way, and angels of God met him.
And Jacob said, when he saw them, “This is the camp of God.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
And Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
And he commanded them: “Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob — With Laban I have sojourned, and I have stayed until now.
And I have oxen and donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, so that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
And the messengers returned to Jacob: “We came to your brother, to Esau — and he is also coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.”
And Jacob was very afraid, and it was narrow for him. And he divided the people who were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two camps.
And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, the camp that is left will escape.”
And Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac — LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your birthplace, and I will deal well with you’ —
I am too small for all the loyal love and all the faithfulness that you have done for your servant. For with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau — for I fear him, that he will come and strike me, mother along with sons.
And you — you said, ‘I will surely deal well with you, and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted for multitude.’”
And he spent that night there. And he took, from what came to his hand, a gift for Esau his brother:
two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
And he gave them into the hand of his servants, each drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.”
And he commanded the first: “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘Whose are you, and where are you going, and whose are these ahead of you?’ —
then you shall say, ‘Your servant Jacob’s. It is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau — and look, he himself is behind us.’”
And he commanded the second also, and the third, and all who walked behind the droves: “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him.
And you shall also say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said, “Let me cover his face with the gift that goes ahead of me; after that I will see his face — perhaps he will lift up my face.”
So the gift crossed over ahead of him, and he spent that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
And he rose that night and took his two wives and his two servant women and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
And he took them and sent them across the stream, and sent across all that he had.
And Jacob was left alone — and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn.
And when he saw that he could not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob’s hip was wrenched as he wrestled with him.
And he said, “Let me go, for the dawn has risen.” And he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
And he said, “Your name shall no longer be said to be Jacob, but Israel — for you have striven with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”
And Jacob asked and said, “Tell me your name, please.” And he said, “Why is it that you ask 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 has been delivered.”
And the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel — and he was limping on his hip.
Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the socket of the hip, to this day — because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the sinew of the thigh.
The words beneath the translation. Tap one to study it.