Genesis 32
32
Jacob Meets Esau
1When Jacob also went his way, the angels of God met him. 2When he saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.
3Jacob’s brother Esau was living in the area called Seir in the country of Edom. Jacob sent messengers to Esau, 4telling them, “Give this message to my master Esau: ‘This is what Jacob, your servant, says: I have lived with Laban and have remained there until now. 5I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I send this message to you and ask you to accept us.’ ”
6The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.”
7Then Jacob was very afraid and worried. He divided the people who were with him and all the flocks, herds, and camels into two camps. 8Jacob thought, “Esau might come and destroy one camp, but the other camp can run away and be saved.”
9Then Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham! God of my father Isaac! Lord, you told me to return to my country and my family. You said that you would treat me well. 10I am not worthy of the kindness and continual goodness you have shown me. The first time I traveled across the Jordan River, I had only my walking stick, but now I own enough to have two camps. 11Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid he will come and kill all of us, even the mothers with the children. 12You said to me, ‘I will treat you well and will make your children as many as the sand of the seashore. There will be too many to count.’ ”
13Jacob stayed there for the night and prepared a gift for Esau from what he had with him: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep, 15thirty female camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. 16Jacob gave each separate flock of animals to one of his servants and said to them, “Go ahead of me and keep some space between each herd.” 17Jacob gave them their orders. To the servant with the first group of animals he said, “My brother Esau will come to you and ask, ‘Whose servant are you? Where are you going and whose animals are these?’ 18Then you will answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He sent them as a gift to you, my master Esau, and he also is coming behind us.’ ”
19Jacob ordered the second servant, the third servant, and all the other servants to do the same thing. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20Say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” Jacob thought, “If I send these gifts ahead of me, maybe Esau will forgive me. Then when I see him, perhaps he will accept me.” 21So Jacob sent the gifts to Esau, but he himself stayed that night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles with God
22During the night Jacob rose and crossed the Jabbok River at the crossing, taking with him his two wives, his two slave girls, and his eleven sons. 23He sent his family and everything he had across the river. 24So Jacob was alone, and a man came and wrestled with him until the sun came up. 25When the man saw he could not defeat Jacob, he struck Jacob’s hip and put it out of joint. 26Then he said to Jacob, “Let me go. The sun is coming up.”
But Jacob said, “I will let you go if you will bless me.”
27The man said to him, “What is your name?”
And he answered, “Jacob.”
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won.”
29Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
But the man said, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.
30So Jacob named that place Peniel, saying, “I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved.” 31Then the sun rose as he was leaving that place, and Jacob was limping because of his leg. 32So even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle that is on the hip joint of animals, because Jacob was touched there.
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Genesis 32: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Genesis 32
32
1And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God#GodHebrew: Elohim met him. 2And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God#GodHebrew: Elohim And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus — With Laban have I sojourned and tarried until now; 5and I have oxen, and asses, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favour in thine eyes. 6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7Then Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops. 8And he said, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall escape.
9And Jacob said, God#GodHebrew: Elohim of my father Abraham, and God#GodHebrew: Elohim of my father Isaac, Jehovah, who saidst unto me: Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good, 10— I am too small for all the loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops. 11Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12And thou saidst, I will certainly deal well with thee, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
13And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother — 14two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams; 15thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses. 16And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between drove and drove. 17And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee? 18— then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us. 19And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him. 20And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me. 21And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp. 22And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok; 23and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.
24And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn. 25And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. 27And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God#GodHebrew: Elohim and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel — For I have seen God#GodHebrew: Elohim face to face, and my life has been preserved. 31And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip. 32Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh, to this day; because he touched the joint of Jacob's thigh — the sinew.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.