Genesis 32:3-21

3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the country of Edom.1 4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there till now: 5And I have oxen, and donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and herds, and camels, into two bands; 8And said, If Esau shall come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD who saidst to me, Return to thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shown to thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.2 11Deliver 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.3 12And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14Two hundred female goats, and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15Thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows, and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten foals. 16And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space between drove and drove. 17And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and where goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18Then thou shalt say, They are thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent to my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. 19And so he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, In this manner shall ye speak to Esau, when ye find him. 20And 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; perhaps he will accept of me.4 21So the present went over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.