Genesis 32:3–21

³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴He 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. ⁵I 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.’”

⁶When 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.”

⁷In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

⁹Then 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,’ ¹⁰I 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. ¹¹Please 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. ¹²But 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.’”

¹³Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau: ¹⁴200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, ¹⁵30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

¹⁷He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’ ¹⁸then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau. And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

¹⁹He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you meet Esau, you are to say the same thing to him. ²⁰You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau^b with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.^c”

²¹So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.