1
And Yaaqov went on his way, and the messengers of Elohim met him.
2
And Yaaqov said when he saw them, “This is the camp of Elohim.” And he called the name of that place Machanayim.
3
And Yaaqov sent messengers before him to Esav his brother, toward the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
4
And he commanded them, saying, “Thus you shall say to my adon Esav: ‘Thus says your servant Yaaqov: I have sojourned with Lavan and remained there until now.
5
And I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. And I have sent to tell my adon, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
6
And the messengers returned to Yaaqov, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esav, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7
And Yaaqov feared greatly and was distressed. And he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two camps.
8
And he said, “If Esav comes against one camp and strikes it, then the camp that remains shall escape.”
9
And Yaaqov said, “Elohim of my father Avraham, and Elohim of my father Yitzchaq, Yahuah, who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your kindred, and I will do good with you’—
10
I am too small for all the covenant-faithfulness and all the truth that You have shown to Your servant. For with my staff I crossed this Yarden, and now I have become two camps.
11
Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav, for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, mother together with children.
12
And You said, ‘Doing good, I will do good with you, and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered because of its abundance.’”
13
And he spent that night there. And from what had come into his hand, he took a gift for Esav his brother:
14
two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15
thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten young donkeys.
16
And he gave them into the hand of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass before me, and place space between herd and herd.”
17
And he commanded the first, saying, “When Esav my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you, and where are you going, and whose are these before you?’
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then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Yaaqov. It is a gift sent to my adon Esav. And see, he also is behind us.’”
19
And he commanded the second, and the third, and all who followed the herds, saying, “According to this word you shall speak to Esav when you find him.
20
And you shall also say, ‘See, your servant Yaaqov is behind us.’” For he said, “I will cover his face with the gift that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift my face.”
21
And the gift passed over before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.
22
And he rose that night and took his two women, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of Yabboq.
23
And he took them and sent them across the stream, and sent across what belonged to him.
24
And Yaaqov remained alone. And an ish wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn.
25
And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Yaaqov’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him.
26
And he said, “Send me away, for the dawn has risen.” And he said, “I will not send you away unless you bless me.”
27
And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Yaaqov.”
28
And he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Yaaqov, but Yisra’el, for you have contended with Elohim and with men, and you have prevailed.”
29
And Yaaqov asked and said, “Please tell me your name.” And he said, “Why is this, that you ask for my name?” And he blessed him there.
30
And Yaaqov called the name of the place Peni’el, saying, “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life has been preserved.”
31
And the sun rose upon him as he passed Penu’el, and he was limping upon his thigh.
32
Therefore the sons of Yisra’el do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Yaaqov’s thigh, upon the sinew of the thigh.