¹ Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.

² And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, camps.

³ And he sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir to the country of Edom:

⁴ And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day.

⁵ I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.

⁶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,

⁸ Saying: If Esau come to one company and destroy it, the other company that is left shall escape.

⁹ And Jacob said: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who saidst to me: Return to thy land and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee,

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

¹¹ Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him: lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children.

¹² Thou didst say that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for the multitude.

¹³ And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau.

¹⁴ Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, Two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals.

¹⁶ And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.

¹⁷ And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee?

¹⁸ Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau: and he cometh after us.

¹⁹ In like manner he commanded the second and the third, and all that followed with the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.

²⁰ And ye shall add: thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us: for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

²¹ So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.

²² And rising early he took his two wives, and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

²³ And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

²⁴ He remained alone: and behold a man wrestled with him till morning.

²⁵ And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

²⁶ And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go except thou bless me.

²⁷ And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

²⁸ But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?

²⁹ Jacob asked him, Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.

³⁰ And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

³¹ And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.

³² Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.

¹ And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

² And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

³ And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

⁴ Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

⁵ Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

⁶ And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

⁷ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

⁸ Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

⁹ Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

¹⁰ And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

¹¹ And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rook twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

¹³ This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴ In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

¹⁵ In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

¹⁶ And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

¹⁷ And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

¹⁸ And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

¹⁹ And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

²⁰ But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

²¹ Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

²² And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

²³ Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁴ Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

²⁵ Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

²⁶ And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

²⁸ And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them.

²⁹ And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

³⁰ And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.