1Por sua vez Jacob, com todos os seus, também partiu para continuar a viagem. Os anjos de Deus vieram-lhe ao encontro.2Quando os viu, Jacob exclamou: “São do acampamento de Deus!” Por isso, chamou àquele sítio Maanaim.[1]3Jacob decidiu enviar mensageiros a Esaú, o seu irmão, a Edom, na terra de Seir,4com esta mensagem: “Saudações de Jacob. Tenho estado a viver com o nosso tio Labão até há pouco tempo;5agora tenho muitos bois, jumentos, ovelhas e muita criadagem, tanto homens como mulheres. Envio-te estes mensageiros para te informar da minha vinda, esperando poder contar com a tua amizade.”6Os mensageiros voltaram com a notícia de que Esaú estava a caminho para se encontrar com Jacob, acompanhado dum exército de 400 homens.7Jacob ficou cheio de medo e angustiado, e repartiu a gente toda que vinha consigo, tal como os rebanhos, os bois e os camelos, em dois grupos;8porque pensou que se Esaú atacasse um dos grupos talvez o outro conseguisse escapar.9E orou desta maneira: “Ó Deus do meu avô Abraão e Deus do meu pai Isaque, ó SENHOR, tu que me disseste para voltar à terra dos meus parentes e me garantiste que me farias bem;10realmente eu não sou digno de toda a bondade e fidelidade com que me tens tratado, conforme as tuas promessas. Porque quando deixei a minha casa e atravessei este rio Jordão nada tinha de meu, exceto um simples cajado! E agora tenho à minha responsabilidade estes dois grandes grupos.11Peço-te portanto, que me protejas das mãos destruidoras do meu irmão Esaú, pois estou com muito medo que nos venha matar, a mim e a estas mães e seus filhos.12Tu prometeste fazer-me bem e multiplicar os meus descendentes, de forma a tornarem-se tão numerosos como os grãos de areia das praias, que são incontáveis!”13Jacob passou ali aquela noite e preparou um presente para o seu irmão Esaú;14consistia no seguinte: 200 cabras, 20 bodes, 200 ovelhas, 20 carneiros,15camelos de leite, com as suas crias, 40 vacas, 10 bois, 20 jumentas, 10 jumentinhos.16Deu instruções aos criados para passarem adiante, mantendo separado cada grupo de animais, com uma certa distância entre cada um.17Ao que conduzia o primeiro grupo mandou que quando encontrasse Esaú e este lhe perguntasse: “De quem são estes animais? Para onde vais? Para quem estás a trabalhar?”,18devia responder: “Estes animais são de Jacob que está às tuas ordens. São um presente que te envia a ti, Esaú, com todo o respeito e submissão. Ele próprio vem atrás de nós.”19-20Estas mesmas instruções deu Jacob a cada um dos responsáveis pelos vários grupos de animais. A estratégia de Jacob era apaziguar o irmão com presentes, antes de se encontrar com ele cara a cara. “Talvez”, esperava ele, “fique assim nosso amigo.”21Dessa forma, os presentes foram passando à sua frente. Contudo, resolveu ficar ainda aquela noite no acampamento.
Jacob luta com Deus
22-23Durante a noite levantou-se, pegou nas duas mulheres, respetivas criadas e onze filhos e fê-los atravessar a ribeira de Jaboque com todos os seus bens.24Depois ficou sozinho no acampamento. E um homem lutou com ele até ao amanhecer.25Quando esse homem viu que não ganharia o combate, tocou na anca de Jacob, deslocando-lhe a juntura da coxa;26e disse-lhe: “Deixa-me ir embora, porque já está a amanhecer.” Mas Jacob exigiu: “Não te deixarei enquanto não me abençoares!”27“Qual é o teu nome?”, perguntou-lhe o homem. “Jacob”, respondeu.28“Não serás mais Jacob, mas Israel (lutar com Deus). Porque como príncipe lutaste com Deus e com os seres humanos e prevaleceste!”29“Agora diz-me, qual é o teu nome?”, perguntou Jacob por sua vez. “Porque perguntas pelo meu nome?” E abençoou-o ali mesmo.30Jacob chamou àquele lugar Peniel (a face de Deus), porque disse: “Vi Deus face a face, com os meus próprios olhos, e contudo não morri!”31Entretanto, o Sol já se levantava quando partiu enfim dali. E ia coxeando.32É por isso que o povo de Israel ainda hoje não come o nervo que faz a juntura com a coxa.
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] (Js 5:14; Js 21:38; 2 Sm 2:8; 2 Sm 17:24; 2 Sm 17:27; 1 Rs 2:8; Lc 2:13)3And Jacob sent[2] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, (Gn 36:8; Dt 2:5; Js 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.’” (Gn 33:8; Gn 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.” (Gn 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, (Gn 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,’ (Gn 28:13; Gn 31:3; Gn 31:13; Gn 31:42; Gn 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. (2 Sm 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. (Pv 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.’” (Gn 28:13)13So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, (Gn 43:11; Pv 17:8; Pv 18:16; Pv 19:6; Pv 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. (Dt 2:37; Dt 3:16; Js 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. (Os 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; Lc 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.” (Gn 33:4; Gn 35:10; 2 Rs 17:34; Os 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. (Jz 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.” (Gn 16:13; Ex 24:10; Ex 33:20; Dt 5:24; Jz 6:22; Jz 13:22; Is 6:5)31The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. (Jz 8:8; Jz 8:17; 1 Rs 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.