Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts.

He turned them over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Cross over in front of me, and keep a space between each drove and the next

He instructed the servant in front, "When 'Esav my brother meets you and asks you, 'Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?'

then you are to say, 'They belong to your servant Ya'akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord 'Esav; and Ya'akov himself is just behind us.'"

He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, "When you encounter 'Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way,

and you are to add, 'And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya'akov.'" For he said, "I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself - and maybe he will be friendly toward me."

So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok.

He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across;

and Ya'akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak.

When he saw that he did not defeat Ya'akov, he struck Ya'akov's hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him.

The man said, "Let me go, because it's daybreak." But Ya'akov replied, "I won't let you go unless you bless me."

The man asked, "What is your name?" and he answered, "Ya'akov."

Then the man said, "From now on, you will no longer be called Ya'akov, but Isra'el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed."

Ya'akov asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he answered, "Why are you asking about my name?" and blessed him there.

Ya'akov called the place P'ni-El [face of God], "Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared."

As the sun rose upon him he went on past P'ni-El, limping at the hip.

This is why, to this day, the people of Isra'el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket - because the man struck Ya'akov's hip at its socket.

Ya'akov raised his eyes and looked out; and there was 'Esav coming, and four hundred men with him. So Ya'akov divided the children between Le'ah, Rachel and the two slave-girls,

putting the slave-girls and their children first, Le'ah and her children second, and Rachel and Yosef last.

Then he himself passed on ahead of them and prostrated himself on the ground seven times before approaching his brother.

'Esav ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him; and they wept.

Esav looked up; on seeing the women and children, he asked, "Who are these with you?" Ya'akov answered, "The children God has graciously given to your servant."

Then the slave-girls approached with their children, and they prostrated themselves;

Le'ah too and her children approached and prostrated themselves; and last came Yosef and Rachel; and they prostrated themselves.