1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.
3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 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 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 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 In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.
8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”
9 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 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 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 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 Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:
14 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
15 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.
