⁶ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, ‘We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.’

⁷ In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,^[a] and the flocks and herds and camels as well. ⁸ He thought, ‘If Esau comes and attacks one group,^[b] the group^[c] that is left may escape.’

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, ‘O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, “Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,” ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, “I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.”’