Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau 1 DRA Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him. BSB BSB: Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 DRA And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps. BSB BSB: When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.
3 DRA And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom: BSB BSB: Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 DRA And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day. BSB BSB: 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 DRA I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men. BSB BSB: When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you—he and four hundred men with him.”
7 DRA Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies, BSB BSB: In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.
8 DRA Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape. BSB BSB: He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
9 DRA And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst to me: Return to thy land and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee, BSB BSB: 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 DRA I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies. BSB BSB: 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 DRA Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him: lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children. BSB BSB: Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
12 DRA Thou didst say that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau. BSB BSB: Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
14 DRA Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, BSB BSB: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
15 DRA Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals. BSB BSB: 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.
16 DRA And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee? BSB BSB: 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 DRA Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob’s: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us. BSB BSB: 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 DRA In like manner he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us: for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me. BSB BSB: You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”
21 DRA So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp. BSB BSB: So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God 22 DRA And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc. BSB BSB: During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 DRA And when all things were brought over that belonged to him, BSB BSB: He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.
24 DRA He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning. BSB BSB: So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
25 DRA And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go except thou bless me. BSB BSB: 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 DRA And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. BSB BSB: “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.
28 DRA But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men? BSB BSB: 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 DRA Jacob asked him, Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place. BSB BSB: And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 DRA And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. BSB BSB: So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 DRA And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot. BSB BSB: The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.
32 DRA Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob’s thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank. BSB BSB: Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.