Chapter 32

¹Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him. ²And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps. ³And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom: ⁴And 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. ⁵I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶And 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. ⁷Then 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, ⁸Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape. ⁹And 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, ¹⁰I 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. ¹¹Deliver 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. ¹²Thou didst say that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude. ¹³And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau. ¹⁴Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, ¹⁵Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷And 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? ¹⁸Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us. ¹⁹In like manner he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed with the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him. ²⁰And 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. ²¹So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp. ²²And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc. ²³And when all things were brought over that belonged to him, ²⁴He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning. ²⁵And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob. ²⁸But 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? ²⁹Jacob 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. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. ³¹And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot. ³²Therefore 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.