TRV
The Present Sent to Appease Esau
Genesis 32:13-21
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He stayed there that night; then he chose from among his possessions the following as a present for 'Esav his brother:
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two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males,
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thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts.
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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
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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?'
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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.'"
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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,
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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."
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So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
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