Genesis 31:43-32:12

New King James Version

Laban’s Covenant with Jacob

⁴³ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, “These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ Now therefore, come, ^(A)let us make a ^[a]covenant, ^(B)you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.”

⁴⁵ So Jacob ^(C)took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁴⁶ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it ^[b]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[c]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, ^(D)“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹ also ^(E)Mizpah,^[d] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father ^(F)judge between us.” And Jacob ^(G)swore by ^(H)the ^[e]Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. ⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban arose, and ^(I)kissed his sons and daughters and ^(J)blessed them. Then Laban departed and ^(K)returned to his place.

Esau Comes to Meet Jacob

32 So Jacob went on his way, and ^(L)the angels of God met him. ² When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s ^(M)camp.” And he called the name of that place ^[f]Mahanaim.

³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother ^(N)in the land of Seir, ^(O)the ^[g]country of Edom. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, ^(P)“Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. ^5 (Q)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that ^(R)I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶ Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ^(S)he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ So Jacob was greatly afraid and ^(T)distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. ⁸ And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and ^[h]attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”

^9 (U)Then Jacob said, ^(V)“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord ^(W)who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: ¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the ^(X)mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with ^(Y)my staff, and now I have become two companies. ^11 (Z)Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and ^[i]attack me and ^(AA)the mother with the children. ¹² For ^(AB)You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the ^(AC)sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”