B'resheet (Gen) 32
32
1(Maftir) Early in the morning Lavan got up, kissed his sons and daughters, and blessed them. Then Lavan left and returned to his own place. 2Ya‘akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 3When Ya‘akov saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and called that place Machanayim [two camps].
Haftarah Vayetze: Hoshea (Hosea) 12:13(12)–14:10(9) (A); 11:7–12:12(11) (S)
B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayetze: Yochanan (John) 1:43–51
Parashah 8: Vayishlach (He sent) 32:4(3) –36:43
4Ya‘akov sent messengers ahead of him to ‘Esav his brother toward the land of Se‘ir, the country of Edom, 5with these instructions: “Here is what you are to say to my lord ‘Esav: ‘Your servant Ya‘akov says, “I have been living with Lavan and have stayed until now. 6I have cattle, donkeys and flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending to tell this news to my lord, in order to win your favor.” ’” 7The messengers returned to Ya‘akov saying, “We went to your brother ‘Esav, and he is coming to meet you; with him are four hundred men.”
8Ya‘akov became greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people, flocks, cattle and camels with him into two camps, 9saying, “If ‘Esav comes to the one camp and attacks it, at least the camp that is left will escape.” 10Then Ya‘akov said, “God of my father Avraham and God of my father Yitz’chak, Adonai, who told me, ‘Return to your country and your kinsmen, and I will do you good’: 11I’m not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown your servant, since I crossed the Yarden with only my staff. But now I have become two camps. 12Please! Rescue me from my brother ‘Esav! I’m afraid of him, afraid he’ll come and attack me, without regard for mothers or children. 13You said, ‘I will certainly do you good and make your descendants as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, which are so many they can’t be counted.’”
(ii) 14He stayed there that night; then he chose from among his possessions the following as a present for ‘Esav his brother: 15two hundred female goats and twenty males, two hundred female sheep and twenty males, 16thirty milk-camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten colts. 17He turned them over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Cross over in front of me, and keep a space between each drove and the next one.” 18He instructed the servant in front, “When ‘Esav my brother meets you and asks you, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going? And whose animals are these?’ 19then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Ya‘akov, and they are a present he has sent to my lord ‘Esav; and Ya‘akov himself is just behind us.’” 20He also instructed the second servant, and the third, and all that followed the droves, “When you encounter ‘Esav, you are to speak to him in the same way, 21and you are to add, ‘And there, just behind us, is your servant Ya‘akov.’” For he said, “I will appease him first with the present that goes ahead of me; then, after that, I will see him myself — and maybe he will be friendly toward me.” 22So the present crossed over ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
23He got up that night, took his two wives, his two slave-girls, and his eleven children, and forded the Yabok. 24He took them and sent them across the stream, then sent his possessions across; 25and Ya‘akov was left alone. Then some man wrestled with him until daybreak. 26When he saw that he did not defeat Ya‘akov, he struck Ya‘akov’s hip socket, so that his hip was dislocated while wrestling with him. 27The man said, “Let me go, because it’s daybreak.” But Ya‘akov replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.” 28The man asked, “What is your name?” and he answered, “Ya‘akov.” 29Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya‘akov, but Isra’el; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.” 30Ya‘akov asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he answered, “Why are you asking about my name?” and blessed him there.
(iii) 31Ya‘akov called the place P’ni-El [face of God], “Because I have seen God face to face, yet my life is spared.” 32As the sun rose upon him he went on past P’ni-El, limping at the hip. 33This is why, to this day, the people of Isra’el do not eat the thigh muscle that passes along the hip socket — because the man struck Ya‘akov’s hip at its socket.
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32
1Jacob went on his way and some angels of God came to meet him. 2When he saw them he said, “This must be God's camp!” He named the place “Two Camps.”
3He sent messengers on ahead to meet his brother Esau who was living in the region of Seir in the country of Edom. 4He told them, “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau. Your servant Jacob sends you this message. I've been staying with Laban up till now, 5and I have cattle and donkeys and sheep and goats, and male and female slaves. I've sent these messengers to explain this to you my lord, hoping you'll be pleased to see me.”
6The messengers returned to Jacob and told him, “Your brother Esau is coming to meet you with 400 armed men!” 7When Jacob heard this, he was absolutely terrified. He split all the people with him, along with the sheep, goats, cattle, and camels, into two groups, 8saying to himself, “If Esau comes and destroys one group, the other one can get away.”
9Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham, God of my father Isaac! Lord, you were the one who told me, ‘Return to your own country and your family home, and I will treat you well.’ 10I don't deserve all the trustworthy love and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I crossed the Jordan years ago#32:10. “Years ago”: supplied for clarity. with just my walking stick, and now I have two large camps. 11Please save me from my brother; defend me from Esau! I'm terrified that he's coming to attack me, my wives, and my children. 12You yourself told me, ‘I will definitely treat you well. I will make your descendants as numerous as the sand of the seashore—too many to count.’”
13Jacob stayed the night there. Then he picked out animals as a gift to his brother Esau: 14200 female goats, 20 male goats; 200 ewes, 20 rams; 1530 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls; 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys. 16He put his servants in charge of each of the separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep a good distance between the herds.”
17He gave these instructions to those with the first herd: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master, and where are you going, and whose are these animals with you?’ 18you are to say to him, ‘Your servant Jacob sends these as a gift to my lord Esau, and he's following us.’” 19He gave the same instructions to those with the second and third and all the subsequent herds, telling them, “This is what you are to say to Esau when he meets you. 20You must also tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’”
Jacob said to himself, “Maybe by sending these gifts on ahead Esau won't be angry with me and when I meet him he'll be kind to me.” 21So the gifts went on ahead while Jacob spent the night at the camp.
22He got up during the night and took his two wives and the two personal maids and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River at the ford. 23After helping them cross he also sent over everything that belonged to him. 24But Jacob stayed there alone. A man came and wrestled with him until dawn. 25When the man realized he couldn't beat Jacob, he hit Jacob's hip socket and put it out of joint as he wrestled with him.
26Then the man said, “Let me go because it's almost dawn.”
“I won't let you go unless you bless me,” Jacob replied.
27“What's your name?” the man asked.
“Jacob,” he replied.
28“Jacob will no longer be your name,” said the man. “Instead you will be called Israel, because you fought with God and with men and you won.”
29“Please tell me your name,” Jacob asked.
“Why do you ask me my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
30Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “I saw God face to face and I'm still alive!” 31The sun came up as Jacob left Peniel, limping along because of his damaged hip. 32(That's why, even today, Israelites don't eat the thigh tendon attached to the hip socket, because that's where the man hit Jacob's hip socket.)
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com