^{4 Ref} And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now:

^{5 Ref} and I have oxen, and asses, `and' flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.

^{6 Ref} And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

^{7 Ref} Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

^{8 Ref} and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape.

^{9 Ref} And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:

^{10 Ref} I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies.

^{11 Ref} 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, the mother with the children.

^{12 Ref} And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

^{13 Ref} And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother:

^{14 Ref} two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵ thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals.

^{16 Ref} And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

^{17 Ref} And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

^{18 Ref} then thou shalt say `They are' thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us.

¹⁹ And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him;

^{20 Ref} and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me.

²¹ So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.