Genesis 32-33

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

32 Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.

² 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.

³ And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom:

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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,

⁸ Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape.

⁹ 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,

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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.

¹² 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.

¹³ And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau.

¹⁴ Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ 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?

¹⁸ Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us.

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ 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.

²¹ So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.

²² And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

²³ And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

²⁴ He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning.

²⁵ And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

²⁶ 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.

²⁷ And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

²⁸ 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?

²⁹ 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.

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

³¹ And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.

³² 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.

33 And Jacob lifting up his eyes, saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men: and he divided the children of Lia, and of Rachel, and of the two handmaids:

² And he put both the handmaids and their children foremost: and Lia and her children in the second place: and Rachel and Joseph last.

³ And he went forward and bowed down with his face to the ground seven times until his brother came near.

⁴ Then Esau ran to meet his brother, and embraced him: and clasping him fast about the neck, and kissing him, wept.

⁵ And lifting up his eyes, he saw the women and their children, and said: What mean these? And do they belong to thee? He answered: They are the children which God hath given to me thy servant.

⁶ Then the handmaids and their children came near, and bowed themselves.

⁷ Lia also with her children came near, and bowed down in like manner, and last of all Joseph and Rachel bowed down.

⁸ And Esau said: What are the droves that I met? He answered: That I might find favour before my lord.

⁹ But he said: I have plenty, my brother, keep what is thine for thyself.

¹⁰ And Jacob said: Do not so I beseech thee, but if I have found favour in thy eyes, receive a little present at my hands: for I have seen thy face, as if I should have seen the countenance of God: be gracious to me,

¹¹ And take the blessing, which I have brought thee, and which God hath given me, who giveth all things. He took it with much ado at his brother's earnest pressing him,

¹² And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey.

¹³ And Jacob said: My lord, thou knowest that I have with me tender children, and sheep, and kine with young: which if I should cause to be overdriven, in one day all the flocks will die.

¹⁴ May it please my lord to go before his servant: and I will follow softly after him, as I shall see my children to be able, until I come to my lord in Seir.

¹⁵ Esau answered: I beseech thee, that some of the people at least, who are with me, may stay to accompany thee in the way. And he said: There is no necessity: I want nothing else but only to find favour, my lord, in thy sight.

¹⁶ So Esau returned, that day, the way that he came, to Seir.

¹⁷ And Jacob came to Socoth: where having built a house, and pitched tents, he called the name of the place Socoth, that is, Tents.

¹⁸ And he passed over to Salem, a city of the Sichemites, which is in the land of Chanaan, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria: and he dwelt by the town:

¹⁹ And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem for a hundred lambs.

²⁰ And raising an altar there, he invoked upon it the most mighty God of Israel.