1Jacob also went on his way. The angels of God met him.2Jacob saw them. He said, ‘This is the army of God!’ So he named that place Mahanaim.3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau. Esau lived in the land of Seir. It was also called the country of Edom.4Jacob told the messengers what to do. He said, ‘Here’s what you must tell my master Esau. “Your servant Jacob says, ‘I’ve been staying with Laban. I’ve remained there until now.5I have cattle and donkeys and sheep and goats. I also have male and female servants. Now I’m sending this message to you. I hope I can please you.’ ” ’6The messengers came back to Jacob. They said, ‘We went to your brother Esau. He’s coming now to meet you. He has 400 men with him.’7Jacob was very worried and afraid. So he separated the people with him into two groups. He also separated the flocks and herds and camels.8He thought, ‘Esau might come and attack one group. If he does, the group that’s left can escape.’9Then Jacob prayed, ‘You are the God of my grandfather Abraham. You are the God of my father Isaac. LORD, you are the one who said to me, “Go back to your country and your relatives. Then I will give you success.”10You have been very kind and faithful to me. But I’m not worthy of any of this. When I crossed this River Jordan, all I had was my walking stick. But now I’ve become two camps.11Please save me from the hand of my brother Esau. I’m afraid he’ll come and attack me and the mothers with their children.12But you have said, “I will surely give you success. I will make your children as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. People will not be able to count them.” ’13Jacob spent the night there. He chose a gift for his brother Esau from what he had with him.14He chose 200 female goats and 20 male goats. He chose 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep.15He chose 30 female camels with their little ones. He chose 40 cows and ten bulls. And he chose 20 female donkeys and ten male donkeys.16He put each herd by itself. Then he put his servants in charge of them. He said to his servants, ‘Go on ahead of me. Keep some space between the herds.’17Jacob spoke to his servant who was leading the way. He said, ‘My brother Esau will meet you. He’ll ask, “Who is your master? Where are you going? And who owns all these animals in front of you?”18Then say to Esau, “They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift to you from him. And Jacob is coming behind us.” ’19He also spoke to the second and third servants. He told them and all the others who followed the herds what to do. He said, ‘Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.20Make sure you say, “Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.” ’ Jacob was thinking, ‘I’ll make peace with him with these gifts I’m sending on ahead. When I see him later, maybe he’ll welcome me.’21So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him. But he himself spent the night in the camp.
Jacob wrestles with God
22That night Jacob got up. He took his two wives, his two female servants and his 11 sons and sent them across the River Jabbok.23After they had crossed the stream, he sent over everything he owned.24So Jacob was left alone. A man wrestled with him until morning.25The man saw that he couldn’t win. So he touched the inside of Jacob’s hip. As Jacob wrestled with the man, Jacob’s hip was twisted.26Then the man said, ‘Let me go. It is morning.’ But Jacob replied, ‘I won’t let you go unless you bless me.’27The man asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Jacob’, he answered.28Then the man said, ‘Your name will not be Jacob anymore. Instead, it will be Israel. You have wrestled with God and with people. And you have won.’29Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he replied, ‘Why do you want to know my name?’ Then he blessed Jacob there.30So Jacob named the place Peniel. He said, ‘I saw God face to face. But I’m still alive!’31The sun rose above Jacob as he passed by Peniel. He was limping because of his hip.32That’s why the Israelites don’t eat the meat attached to the inside of an animal’s hip. They don’t eat it to this day. It’s because the inside of Jacob’s hip was touched.
Genesis 32
English Standard Version
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 camp!” So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.[1] (Jos 5:14; Jos 21:38; 2Sa 2:8; 2Sa 17:24; 2Sa 17:27; 1Ki 2:8; Lu 2:13)3And Jacob sent[2] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, (Ge 36:8; De 2:5; Jos 24:4)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 I may find favor in your sight.’” (Ge 33:8; Ge 33:15)6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” (Ge 33:1)7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, (Ge 35:3)8thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.”9And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,’ (Ge 28:13; Ge 31:3; Ge 31:13; Ge 31:42; Ge 31:53)10I 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. (2Sa 7:18)11Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. (Pr 18:19)12But you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’” (Ge 28:13)13So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, (Ge 43:11; Pr 17:8; Pr 18:16; Pr 19:6; Pr 21:14)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[3] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”[4]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,[5] and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. (De 2:37; De 3:16; Jos 12:2)23He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had.24And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. (Ho 12:3)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, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Mt 15:21; Lu 18:1)27And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”28Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[6] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” (Ge 33:4; Ge 35:10; 2Ki 17:34; Ho 12:3)29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. (Jud 13:18)30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,[7] saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” (Ge 16:13; Ex 24:10; Ex 33:20; De 5:24; Jud 6:22; Jud 13:22; Isa 6:5)31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Jud 8:8; Jud 8:17; 1Ki 12:25)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.