Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.

He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

He 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?’

then 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.’”

He 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.

You are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me.”

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

During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it as they wrestled.

Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed.”

And Jacob requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon which is at the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the rear.

But Jacob himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.

Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”

Then the maidservants and their children approached and bowed down.

Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down.