Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

So Jacob picked out a stone and set it up as a pillar,

and he said to his relatives, “Gather some stones.” So they took stones and made a mound, and there by the mound they ate.

Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.

It was also called Mizpah, because Laban said, “May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are absent from each other.

If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, although no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.”

Laban also said to Jacob, “Here is the mound, and here is the pillar I have set up between you and me.

This mound is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this mound to harm you, and you will not go past this mound and pillar to harm me.

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and invited his relatives to eat a meal. And after they had eaten, they spent the night on the mountain.

Early the next morning, Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and daughters and blessed them. Then he left to return home.

Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God.” So he named that place Mahanaim.

Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

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.

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.’”

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.”

In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels.

He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.”

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,’

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.

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.

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.’”

Jacob spent the night there, and from what he had brought with him, he selected a gift for his brother Esau:

200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,