He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
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,’
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.