¹ The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.

² Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

³ Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

⁴ Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

⁵ Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith Jehovah.

⁶ Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

⁷ Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?

⁸ Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof.

⁹ Go up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow.

¹⁰ For that day is [a day] of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

¹¹ Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee.

¹² The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together.

¹³ The word that Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand forth, and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured round about thee.

¹⁵ Why are thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because Jehovah did drive them.

¹⁶ He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

¹⁷ They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by.

¹⁸ As I live, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

¹⁹ O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity; for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant.

²⁰ Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come.

²¹ Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation.

²² The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

²³ They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.

²⁴ The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

²⁵ Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and them that trust in him:

²⁶ and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jehovah.

²⁷ But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

²⁸ Fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, saith Jehovah; for I am with thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished.

¹ Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

² When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." He called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³ Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

⁴ He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: 'This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.

⁵ I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'"

⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him."

⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

⁸ and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape."

⁹ Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,'

¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.

¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children.

¹² You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'"

¹³ He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother:

¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵ thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.

¹⁶ He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd."

¹⁷ He commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?'

¹⁸ Then you shall say, 'They are your servant, Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.'"

¹⁹ He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.

²⁰ You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.'" For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me."

²¹ So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the camp.

²² He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok.

²³ He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.

²⁴ Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

²⁵ When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled.

²⁶ The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me."

²⁷ He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."

²⁸ He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed."

²⁹ Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there.

³⁰ Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

³¹ The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.

³² Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.