Chapter 32

  And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him.  

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  And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.  

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  And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom.  

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  And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus -- With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now;  

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  and I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thine eyes.  

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  And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.  

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  Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops.  

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  And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.  

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  And Jacob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who saidst unto me: Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good,  

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  -- I am too small for all the loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops.  

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  Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, [and] the mother with the children.  

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  And thou saidst, I will certainly deal well with thee, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.  

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  And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother --  

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  two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams;  

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  thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses.  

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  And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.  

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  And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee?  

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  -- then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.  

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  And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him.  

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  And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me.  

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  And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.  

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  And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok;  

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  and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.  

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  And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn.  

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  And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him.  

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  And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me.  

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  And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.  

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  And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed.  

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  And Jacob asked and said, Tell [me], I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after my name? And he blessed him there.  

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  And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel -- For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.  

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  And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip.  

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  Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh, to this day; because he touched the joint of Jacob's thigh -- the sinew.  

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