Genesis 32
32
Jacob’s Fear of Esau
1Then as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him [to reassure and protect him]. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim (#Jacob may have been referring to the angels as another camp, along with his own, and viewing their presence as evidence of divine protection. This was Jacob’s second encounter with the “angels of God” (28:12).double camps).
3Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He commanded them, saying, “This is what to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says this, “I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now; 5I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants; and I have sent [this message] to tell my lord, so that I may find grace and kindness in your sight.” ’ ”
6The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps; 8and he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the other camp which is left will escape.”
9Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your people, and I will make you prosper,’ 10I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and compassion and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant. With only my staff [long ago] I crossed over this Jordan, and now I have become [blessed and increased into these] two groups [of people]. 11Save me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. 12And You [Lord] said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and make your descendants as [numerous as] the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’ ”
13So Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected a present for his brother Esau from the livestock he had acquired: 14two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, 15thirty milking camels with their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten [donkey] colts. 16He put them into the care of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go on ahead of me, and put an interval [of space] between the individual herds.” 17Then he commanded the one in front, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks to whom you belong, and where you are going, and whose are the animals in front of you? 18then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s; they are a gift sent to my lord Esau. And he also is behind us.’ ” 19And so Jacob commanded the second and the third as well, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is what you shall say to Esau when you meet him; 20and you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said [to himself], “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.” 21So the gift [of the herds of livestock] went on ahead of him, and he himself spent that night back in the camp.
22But he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and waded over the ford of the Jabbok. 23Then he took them and sent them across the brook. And he also sent across whatever he had.
Jacob Wrestles
24So Jacob was left alone, and a #This was God Himself (as Jacob eventually realizes in Gen 32:30; see also v 29 and Hosea 12:4), in the form of an angel.Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. 25When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. 26Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” 27So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but #“He who strives with God,” or “God strives.”Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.” But He said, “Why is it that you ask My name?” And He declared a blessing [of the covenant promises] on Jacob there. 30So Jacob named the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has not been snatched away.” 31Now the sun rose on him as he passed Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore, to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh by the tendon of the hip.
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Genesis 32
32
1And Jacob hath gone on his way, and messengers of God come upon him;
2and Jacob saith, when he hath seen them, ‘This [is] the camp of God;’ and he calleth the name of that place ‘Two Camps.’
3And Jacob sendeth messengers before him unto Esau his brother, towards the land of Seir, the field of Edom,
4and commandeth them, saying, ‘Thus do ye say to my lord, to Esau: Thus said thy servant Jacob, With Laban I have sojourned, and I tarry until now;
5and I have ox, and ass, flock, and man-servant, and maid-servant, and I send to declare to my lord, to find grace in his eyes.’
6And the messengers turn back unto Jacob, saying, ‘We came in unto thy brother, unto Esau, and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him;’
7and Jacob feareth exceedingly, and is distressed, and he divideth the people who [are] with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps,
8and saith, ‘If Esau come in unto the one camp, and have smitten it — then the camp which is left hath been for an escape.’
9And Jacob saith, ‘God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Jehovah who saith unto me, Turn back to thy land, and to thy kindred, and I do good with thee:
10I have been unworthy of all the kind acts, and of all the truth which Thou hast done with thy servant — for, with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
11‘Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I am fearing him, less he come and have smitten me — mother beside sons;
12and Thou — Thou hast said, I certainly do good with thee, and have set thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is not numbered because of the multitude.’
13And he lodgeth there during that night, and taketh from that which is coming into his hand, a present for Esau his brother:
14she-goats two hundred, and he-goats twenty, ewes two hundred, and rams twenty,
15suckling camels and their young ones thirty, cows forty, and bullocks ten, she-asses twenty, and foals ten;
16and he giveth into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and saith unto his servants, ‘Pass over before me, and a space ye do put between drove and drove.’
17And he commandeth the first, saying, ‘When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and hath asked thee, saying, Whose [art] thou? and whither goest thou? and whose [are] these before thee?
18then thou hast said, Thy servant Jacob's: it [is] a present sent to my lord, to Esau; and lo, he also [is] behind us.’
19And he commandeth also the second, also the third, also all who are going after the droves, saying, ‘According to this manner do ye speak unto Esau in your finding him,
20and ye have said also, Lo, thy servant Jacob [is] behind us;’ for he said, ‘I pacify his face with the present which is going before me, and afterwards I see his face; it may be he lifteth up my face;’
21and the present passeth over before his face, and he hath lodged during that night in the camp.
22And he riseth in that night, and taketh his two wives, and his two maid-servants, and his eleven children, and passeth over the passage of Jabbok;
23and he taketh them, and causeth them to pass over the brook, and he causeth that which he hath to pass over.
24And Jacob is left alone, and one wrestleth with him till the ascending of the dawn;
25and he seeth that he is not able for him, and he cometh against the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh is disjointed in his wrestling with him;
26and he saith, ‘Send me away, for the dawn hath ascended:’ and he saith, ‘I send thee not away, except thou hast blessed me.’
27And he saith unto him, ‘What [is] thy name?’ and he saith, ‘Jacob.’
28And he saith, ‘Thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast been a prince with God and with men, and dost prevail.’
29And Jacob asketh, and saith, ‘Declare, I pray thee, thy name;’ and he saith, ‘Why [is] this, thou askest for My name?’ and He blesseth him there.
30And Jacob calleth the name of the place Peniel: for ‘I have seen God face unto face, and my life is delivered;’
31and the sun riseth on him when he hath passed over Penuel, and he is halting on his thigh;
32therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew which shrank, which [is] on the hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because He came against the hollow of Jacob's thigh, against the sinew which shrank.
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