Genesis 32

Jacob Gets Ready To Meet Esau

1As Jacob was on his way back home, some of God's angels came and met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God's camp.” So he named the place Mahanaim.#32.2 Mahanaim: In Hebrew “Mahanaim” means “two camps.”

3Jacob sent messengers on ahead to Esau, who lived in the land of Seir, also known as Edom. 4Jacob told them to say to Esau, “Master, I am your servant! I have lived with Laban all this time, 5and now I own cattle, donkeys, and sheep, as well as many slaves. Master, I am sending these messengers in the hope that you will be kind to me.”

6When the messengers returned, they told Jacob, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is heading this way with 400 men.”

7Jacob was so frightened that he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two groups. 8He thought, “If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape.”

9Then Jacob prayed:

You, Lord, are the God who was worshiped by my grandfather Abraham and by my father Isaac. You told me to return home to my family, and you promised to be with me and make me successful. 10I don't deserve all the good things you have done for me, your servant. When I first crossed the Jordan, I had only my walking stick, but now I have two large groups of people and animals. 11Please rescue me from my brother. I am afraid he will come and attack not only me, but my wives and children as well. 12#Gn 22.17. But you have promised that I would be a success and that someday it will be as hard to count my descendants as it is to count the grains of sand along the seashore.

13After Jacob had spent the night there, he chose some animals as gifts for Esau: 14-15200 female goats and 20 males, 200 female sheep and 20 males, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, and 20 female donkeys and 10 males.

16Jacob put servants in charge of each herd and told them, “Go ahead of me and keep a space between each herd.” 17Then he said to the servant in charge of the first herd, “When Esau meets you, he will ask whose servant you are. He will want to know where you are going and who owns those animals in front of you. 18So tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, who is coming this way. He is sending them as a gift to his master Esau.’ ”

19Jacob also told the men in charge of the second and third herds and those who followed to say the same thing when they met Esau. 20And Jacob told them to be sure to say that he was right behind them. Jacob hoped the gifts would make Esau friendly, so Esau would be glad to see him when they met. 21Jacob's men took the gifts on ahead of him, but he spent the night in camp.

Jacob's Name Is Changed to Israel

22-23 # Ws 10.12. Jacob got up in the middle of the night and took his wives, his eleven children, and everything he owned across to the other side of the Jabbok River for safety. 24#Ho 12.3,4. Afterwards, Jacob went back and spent the rest of the night alone.

A man came and fought with Jacob until just before daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not win, he struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint. 26They kept on wrestling until the man said, “Let go of me! It's almost daylight.”

“You can't go until you bless me,” Jacob replied.

27Then the man asked, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 # Gn 35.9-11. The man said, “From now on, your name will no longer be Jacob. You will be called Israel,#32.28 Israel: In Hebrew one meaning of “Israel” is “a man who wrestles with God.” because you have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won.”

29 # Jg 13.17,18. Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”

“Don't you know who I am?” he asked. And he blessed Jacob.

30Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive.” So he named the place Peniel.#32.30 Peniel: In Hebrew “Peniel” means “face of God.” 31The sun was coming up as Jacob was leaving Peniel. He was limping because he had been struck on the hip, 32and the muscle on his hip joint had been injured. That's why even today the people of Israel don't eat the hip muscle of any animal.

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Genesis 32

CHAPTER 32

1Forsooth Jacob went forth in the way in which he began, and the angels of the Lord met him.

2And when he had seen them, he said, These be the castles of God; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3Soothly Jacob sent before him also messengers to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, in the country of Edom;

4and he commanded to them, and said, Thus speak ye to my lord Esau, Thy brother Jacob saith these things, I have been a pilgrim at Laban, and I was till into this present day;

5I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and handmaids, and I send now a message to my lord, that I find grace in thy sight.

6And the messengers turned again to Jacob, and said, We came to Esau, thy brother, and lo! he hasteth him into thy coming, with four hundred men.

7Jacob dreaded greatly, and he was afeared, and he parted the people that was with him, and he parted the flocks, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two companies;

8and he said, If Esau shall come to one company, and shall smite it, the other company which is left unsmitten, shall be saved.

9And Jacob said, O! God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O! Lord, that saidest to me, Turn thou again into thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I shall do well to thee,

10I am less than all thy merciful doings, and than thy truth which thou hast [ful] filled to thy servant; with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I go again with two companies;

11deliver thou me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I dread him greatly, lest he come and smite or slay the mothers with the sons [or with the children].

12Thou spakest that thou shouldest do well to me, and wouldest alarge my seed as [the] gravel of the sea, that may not be numbered for muchliness.

13And when Jacob had slept there in that night, he separated of those things which he had as gifts to Esau, his brother,

14two hundred she goats, and twenty bucks of goats, two hundred sheep, and twenty rams,

15camels full with their foals thirty, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and [the] ten foals of them.

16And he sent by the hands of his servants all the flocks by themselves; and he said to his servants, Go ye before me, and a space be betwixt flock and flock.

17And he commanded to the former or first, and said, If thou shalt meet my brother Esau, and he shall ask thee, whose man thou art, or whither thou goest, or whose be these things which thou followest,

18thou shalt answer, Of thy servant Jacob; he hath sent gifts to his lord Esau, and he cometh after us.

19In like manner, he gave command-ments to the second, and to the third, and to all that pursued [or followed] the flocks; and said, Speak ye by the same words to Esau, when ye find him,

20and ye shall add, Also Jacob himself thy servant pursueth [or followeth] our way. For Jacob said, I shall please Esau with gifts that go before, and afterward I shall see him; in hap he shall be merciful to me.

21And so the gifts went before him; soothly he dwelled in that night in the tents.

22And when Jacob had risen hastily, he took his two wives, and so many handmaids, with his eleven sons, and he passed over the ford of Jabbok.

23And when all things that pertained to him were led over,

24Jacob dwelled there alone, and, lo! a man came, and wrestled with him till to the morrowtide.

25And when the man saw that he might not overcome Jacob, he touched the sinew of Jacob’s hip, and it dried anon.

26And he said to Jacob, Let go thou me, for the morrowtide goeth up now. Jacob answered, I shall not let go thee, no but thou bless me.

27Therefore he said, What name is to thee? He answered, Jacob.

28And the man said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou were strong against God, how much more shalt thou have power against men.

29Jacob asked him, Say thou to me by what name thou art called? He answered, Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? And he blessed Jacob in the same place.

30And Jacob called the name of that place Penuel, and said, I saw the Lord face to face, and my life is made safe.

31And anon the sun rose to him, after that he had passed over from Penuel; forsooth he halted in the foot.

32For which cause the sons of Israel eat not unto this present day the sinew, like that that dried in the hip of Jacob; for the man touched the sinew of Jacob’s hip, and it dried up.

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