Genesis 32:18-20

International Standard Version

¹⁸ then you are to reply, ‘We’re from^[a] your servant Jacob. The herds^[b] are a gift. He’s sending them to my master, Esau. Look! There he is, coming along behind us.’”

¹⁹ He issued similar instructions to the second and third group, as well as to all the others who drove the herds that followed: “This is how you are to speak to Esau when you find him. ²⁰ You are to tell him, ‘Look! Your servant Jacob is coming along behind us.’”

Jacob was thinking, “I’ll pacify him with the presents that are being sent ahead of me. Then, when I meet him,^[c] perhaps he’ll accept me.”^[d]