Bishops(i)
4 And he commaunded them, saying: Thus shall ye speake to my Lorde Esau, thy seruaunt Iacob sayeth thus: I haue ben a straunger with Laban, and haue stayed there vnto this time
5 And haue oxen, asses, and sheepe, menseruauntes, and womenseruauntes: and haue sent to shewe [it] my Lord, that I may finde grace in thy sight
6 And the messengers came agayne to Iacob, saying: we came to thy brother Esau, and he commeth to meete thee, and hath foure hundred men with him
7 But Iacob was greatly afrayde, and wist not whiche way to turne him selfe: and deuided the people that was with him, and the sheepe, and oxen, and camelles, into two companies
8 And sayd, if Esau come to the one part and smite it, the other shall saue it selfe
9 And Iacob said agayne: O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isahac, Lorde whiche saydest vnto me, returne vnto thy countrey, and to thy kindred, & I will do well with thee
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercyes and trueth whiche thou hast shewed vnto thy seruaunt: for with my staffe came I ouer this Iordane, & nowe haue I gotten two companies
11 Deliuer me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I feare hym, lest he wyll come and smyte me, [yea] the mother with the chyldren
12 Thou saydest, I wyll surely do thee good, and make thy seede as the sande of the sea, whiche can not be numbred for multitude
13 And he taryed there that same nyght, and toke of that whiche came to hande, a present for Esau his brother
14 Two hundred shee gotes, and twentie hee gotes, two hundred sheepe, & twentie rammes
15 Thirtie milche camelles with theyr coltes, fourtie kine, and ten bulles, twentie shee asses, and ten foales
16 And deliuered them into the handes of his seruauntes, euery droue by them selues, and sayde vnto his seruauntes: go foorth before me, and put a space betwixt droue and droue
17 And he commaunded the formost, saying: If Esau my brother meete thee, and aske thee, saying, whose art thou? and whyther goest thou? and whose are these [that go] before thee
18 Thou shalt say, they be thy seruaunt Iacobs, and it is a present sent vnto my Lorde Esau, and beholde, he him selfe commeth after vs
19 And so commaunded he the seconde, and the thirde, and all that folowed the droues, saying: on this maner see that you speake vnto Esau when ye meete hym
20 And say moreouer: beholde, thy seruaunt Iacob also commeth after vs: for he sayde, I wyll appeace his wrath with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see him my selfe, peraduenture he wyll receaue me to grace
21 So went the present before hym: and he taryed al that night in the company