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Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of
God met him.
2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host:
and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his
brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak
unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have
sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants,
and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I
may find grace in thy sight.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came
to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and
four hundred men with him.
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he
divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and
herds, and the camels, into two bands;
8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite
it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of
my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto
thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with
thee:
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and
of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant;
for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am
become two bands.
11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother,
from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and
smite me, and the mother with the children.
12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make
thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered
for multitude.
13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that
which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two
hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and
ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants,
every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass
over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my
brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art
thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before
thee?
18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it
is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is
behind us.
19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and
all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall
ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is
behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present
that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face;
peradventure he will accept of me.
21 So went the present over before him: and himself
lodged that night in the company.
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two
wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and
passed over the ford Jabbok.
23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and
sent over that he had.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man
with him until the breaking of the day.
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he
touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's
thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he
said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said,
Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,
but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and
with men, and hast prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee,
thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask
after my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I
have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him,
and he halted upon his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew
which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto
this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in
the sinew that shrank.
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Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
