Genesis 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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Berĕshith (Genesis) 32

1And Ya‛aqoḇ went on his way, and the messengers of Elohim met him.

2And when Ya‛aqoḇ saw them, he said, “This is the camp of Elohim.” And he called the name of that place Maḥanayim.

3And Ya‛aqoḇ sent messengers before him to Ěsaw his brother in the land of Sĕ‛ir, the field of Eḏom

4and he commanded them, saying, “Say this to my master Ěsaw, ‘Your servant Ya‛aqoḇ said this, “I have sojourned with Laḇan and stayed there until now.

5“And I have bulls, and donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. And I have sent to inform my master, to find favour in your eyes.” ’ ”

6So the messengers returned to Ya‛aqoḇ, saying, “We came to your brother Ěsaw, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.”

7And Ya‛aqoḇ was greatly afraid and distressed. So he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups,

8and he said, “If Ěsaw comes to the one group and strikes it, then the other group which is left shall escape.”

9And Ya‛aqoḇ said, “O Elohim of my father Aḇraham and Elohim of my father Yitsḥaq, יהוה who said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives, and I do good to you,’

10“I do not deserve the least of all the loving-commitment and all the truth which You have shown Your servant, for I passed over this Yardĕn with my staff, and now I have become two groups.

11“Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Ěsaw, for I fear him, lest he come and shall strike me and the mother with the children.

12For You said, ‘I shall certainly do good to you, and shall make your seed as the sand of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’

13And he spent the night there, and took what came to his hand as a present for Ěsaw his brother –

14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

15thirty suckling-camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.

16And he gave into the hand of hisservants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance between drove and drove.”

17And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Ěsaw my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? And whose are these in front of you?’

18then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Ya‛aqoḇ’s. It is a present sent to my master Ěsaw. And see, he also is behind us.’ ”

19So he commanded the second, and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “Speak to Ěsaw this same word when you find him,

20and you shall say, ‘Also look, your servant Ya‛aqoḇ is behind us.’ ” For he said, “Let me appease him with the present that goes before me, and after that see his face. He might accept me.”

21And the present passed over before him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

22And he rose up that night and took his two wives, and his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Yabboq.

23And he took them and sent them over the stream, and sent over what he had.

24And Ya‛aqoḇ was left alone. And a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.

25And when He saw that He did not overcome him, He touched the socket of his hip. And the socket of Ya‛aqoḇ’s hip was dislocated as He wrestled with him.

26And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I am not letting You go until You have blessed me!”

27So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Ya‛aqoḇ.”

28And He said, “Your name is no longer called Ya‛aqoḇ, but Yisra’ĕl,#Yisra’ĕl means “to strive with Ěl; to overcome with Ěl; to rule with Ěl". because you have striven with Elohim and with men, and have overcome.”

29And Ya‛aqoḇ asked Him, saying, “Please let me know Your Name.” And He said, “Why do you ask about My Name?” And He blessed him there.

30And Ya‛aqoḇ called the name of the place Peni’ĕl, “For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my life is preserved.”

31And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penu’ĕl, and he limped on his hip.

32That is why the children of Yisra’ĕl to this day do not eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the socket of the thigh, because He touched the socket of the thigh of Ya‛aqoḇ, in the sinew of the hip.

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