Genesis 32
32
Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
1As Jacob went on his way, some angels met him. 2When he saw them, he said, “This is God's camp”; so he called the place Mahanaim.#32.2 Mahanaim: This name in Hebrew means “two camps”.
3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the country of Edom. 4He instructed them to say: “I, Jacob, your obedient servant, report to my master Esau that I have been staying with Laban and that I have delayed my return until now. 5I own cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and slaves. I am sending you word, sir, in the hope of gaining your favour.”
6When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you. He has 400 men with him.” 7Jacob was frightened and worried. He divided into two groups the people who were with him, and also his sheep, goats, cattle, and camels. 8He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks the first group, the other may be able to escape.”
9Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac, hear me! You told me, LORD, to go back to my land and to my relatives, and you would make everything go well for me. 10I am not worth all the kindness and faithfulness that you have shown me, your servant. I crossed the Jordan with nothing but a walking stick, and now I have come back with these two groups. 11Save me, I pray, from my brother Esau. I am afraid — afraid that he is coming to attack us and destroy us all, even the women and children. 12#Gen 22.17Remember that you promised to make everything go well for me and to give me more descendants than anyone could count, as many as the grains of sand along the seashore.”
13-15After spending the night there, Jacob chose from his livestock as a present for his brother Esau: 200 female goats and twenty males, 200 female sheep and twenty males, thirty milk camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten males. 16He divided them into herds and put one of his servants in charge of each herd. He said to them, “Go ahead of me, and leave a space between each herd and the one behind it.” 17He ordered the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these animals in front of you?’ 18you must answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sends them as a present to his master Esau. Jacob himself is just behind us.’ ” 19He gave the same order to the second, the third, and to all the others who were in charge of the herds: “This is what you must say to Esau when you meet him. 20You must say, ‘Yes, your servant Jacob is just behind us.’ ” Jacob was thinking, “I will win him over with the gifts, and when I meet him, perhaps he will forgive me.” 21He sent the gifts on ahead of him and spent that night in camp.
Jacob Wrestles at Peniel
22That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the River Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across, he also sent across all that he owned, 24#Hos 12.3–4but he stayed behind, alone.
Then a man came and wrestled with him until just before daybreak. 25When the man saw that he was not winning the struggle, he struck Jacob on the hip, and it was thrown out of joint. 26The man said, “Let me go; daylight is coming.”
“I won't, unless you bless me,” Jacob answered.
27“What is your name?” the man asked.
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 #
Gen 35.10
The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel.”#32.28 Israel: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “he struggles with God” or “God struggles”.
29 #
Judg 13.17–18
Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”
But he answered, “Why do you want to know my name?” Then 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: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “the face of God”. 31The sun rose as Jacob was leaving Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32Even today the descendants of Israel do not eat the muscle which is on the hip joint, because it was on this muscle that Jacob was struck.
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Genesis 32: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Genesis 32
32
Jacob Fears Esau
1Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s #[Josh. 5:14; Luke 2:13] camp!” So he called the name of that place #Josh. 21:38; 2 Sam. 2:8; 17:24, 27; 1 Kgs. 2:8Mahanaim.#32:2 Mahanaim means two camps
3And Jacob sent#32:3 Or had sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of #ch. 36:8, 9; Deut. 2:5; Josh. 24:4Seir, the country of Edom, 4instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. 5I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that #ch. 33:8, 15I may find favor in your sight.’”
6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and #ch. 33:1he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” 7Then Jacob was #ch. 35:3greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, 8thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”
9And Jacob said, #ch. 28:13; 31:42, 53 “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who #ch. 31:3, 13said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ 10#[2 Sam. 7:18]I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for #[Prov. 18:19]I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. 12But #ch. 28:13-15you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
13So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took #ch. 43:11; [Prov. 17:8; 18:16; 19:6; 21:14]a present for his brother Esau, 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove.” 17He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?’ 18then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.’” 19He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, 20and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him#32:20 Hebrew appease his face with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”#32:20 Hebrew he will lift my face 21So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
22The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children,#32:22 Or sons and crossed the ford of the #Deut. 2:37; 3:16; Josh. 12:2Jabbok. 23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. 24And Jacob was left alone. And #Hos. 12:3, 4a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, #[Luke 18:1]; See Matt. 15:21-28“I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28Then he said, #ch. 35:10; 2 Kgs. 17:34 “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,#32:28 Israel means He strives with God, or God strives for #Hos. 12:3, 4 you have striven with God and #ch. 33:4with men, and have prevailed.” 29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, #Judg. 13:18“Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,#32:30 Peniel means the face of God saying, “For #ch. 16:13; Ex. 24:10, 11; Deut. 5:24; Judg. 6:22; 13:22; [Ex. 33:20; Isa. 6:5]I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31The sun rose upon him as he passed #Judg. 8:8, 17; 1 Kgs. 12:25Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip on the sinew of the thigh.
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