Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

1As for Iacob, he wente on his iourney, & the angels of God met him. 2And whan he sawe them, he sayde: It is Gods hoost, & called the same place Mahanaim.

3Iacob sent messaungers before him to his brother Esau in to the lande of Seir, of the felde of Edom, 4& commaunded the, & sayde: Saye thus vnto my lorde Esau: Thy seruaunt Iacob sendeth ye this worde: I haue bene out wt Laban, & haue bene hither to amonge straungers, 5& haue oxen & Asses, shepe, seruauntes & maydes, & haue sent forth to shewe it the my lorde, yt I might fynde fauoure in thy sight.

6The messaungers came agayne vnto Iacob, and sayde: We came vnto thy brother Esau, & he commeth forth also agaynst the with foure hundreth men. 7Then was Iacob sore afrayed, and wyst not what waye to turne himself, & deuyded the people that was with him, and the shepe, and the oxen, & the Camels in to two droues, 8& sayde: Yf Esau come vpon the one droue, and smyte it, the other shal escape.

9Iacob sayde morouer: O God of my father Abraha, God of my father Isaac, LORDE thou that saydest vnto me: Departe agayne to thine owne londe and to thy kynred, and I wyl do the good: 10I am to litle for all the mercies and all the trueth that thou hast shewed vnto thy seruaunt (for I had no more but this staff whan I wente ouer this Iordan, and now am I become two droues) 11delyuer me from ye hande of my brother, fro the hade of Esau, for I am afrayed of him, lest he come and smyte me the mother with the children. 12Thou saydest: I wyll do the good, and wyll make thy sede as the sonde of ye see, which can not be nombred for multitude.

13And there he taried that night, and toke of soch as came to hande, a present vnto his brother Esau, 14two hudreth she goates, twentye he goates, two hundreth shepe, twentye rammes 15and thirtie mylck camels wt their foales, fourtye kyne, ten bullockes, twentye she Asses with ten foales, 16and put them in the handes of his seruauntes, euery flock by them selues, & sayde vnto them: Go ye forth before me, & put a space betwixte one flocke after the other, 17and commaunded the first and sayde: When my brother Esau meteth the, and axeth the: Whose art thou? & whyther goest thou? and whose are these that thou dryuest before the? 18Thou shalt saye: They be thy seruaunt Iacobs, which sendeth a present vnto his lorde Esau, and commeth behynde vs him self. 19Thus commaunded he the seconde also, and the thirde, and all them that folowed the flockes, and sayde: Like as I haue tolde you, so speake ye vnto Esau, whan ye mete him, 20and saye vnto him also: Beholde, yi seruaut Iacob is behynde vs. For he thought: I wyll reconcyle him with the present that goeth before me, after warde wyll I se him my self, peraduenture he shall receaue me to grace. 21So the present wente before him, but he taried in the tente the same night,

Jacob Wrestles with God

22and rose vp in ye night, and toke his two wyues and the two maydens and his eleuen sonnes, and wente vnto the foorde of Iacob, 23toke them and caried them ouer the water, so that all that he had came ouer,

24and taried him self alone on this syde. Then wrestled there a man with him vntyll the breake of ye daye. 25And whan he sawe yt he might not ouercome him, he touched the senowe of his thye, and ye senowe of his thye shrancke in wrestlinge with him. 26And he sayde: Let me go, for ye daye breaketh on. But he answered: I will not let ye go, excepte thou blesse me. 27He sayde: What is thy name? He answered: Iacob. 28He sayde: Thou shalt nomore be called Iacob, but Israel, for thou hast stryuen with God and with men, and hast preuayled. 29And Iacob axed him, & sayde: Tell me, what is yi name? But he sayde: Why axest thou what my name is? And he blessed him there. 30And Iacob called the place Peniel, for I haue sene God face to face, & my soule is recouered. 31And as he came ouer fro Peniel, ye Sonne rose vpo him, & he halted vpon his thye. 32Therfore eate the children of Israel no vane vpon the senow of ye thye vnto this daye, because ye vane vpon the senow of Iacobs thye was touched.