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Jacob’s Fear of Esau

¹ Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim^(a).

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.⁴ He instructed them, “You are to say to my master Esau, ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban and have remained there until now.⁵ I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau; he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”⁷ In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

⁹ Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me, and also the mothers and their children with me.¹² But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

¹³ Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:¹⁴ 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,¹⁵ 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.¹⁶ He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”¹⁷ He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’¹⁸ then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”¹⁹ He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him.²⁰ You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau^(a) with the gift that is going before me^(a). After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”²¹ So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²⁴ So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.²⁵ When the man saw that He could not overpower Jacob, He struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.²⁶ Then the man said, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.”²⁷ “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.^{28 (a)}Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me Your name.” “Why do you ask My name?” he replied. And He blessed Jacob there.³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel^(a), saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”³¹ The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel^(a), and he was limping because of his hip.³² Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon at the hip socket, because the man struck Jacob’s hip socket near that tendon.