Genesis 32
32
Jacob Sends Messages and Gifts to Esau
1 # 32:1
Genesis 32:1–32
in English Bibles is Genesis 32:2–33 in the Hebrew Bible. As Jacob went on his way, God’s angels met him. 2When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s camp!” He named that place Mahanaim [Two Camps].
3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in Seir, the country of Edom. 4He commanded them to give this message to Esau, “Sir, this is what Jacob has to say, ‘I’ve been living with Laban and have stayed until now. 5I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, and male and female slaves. I’ve sent ⌞these messengers⌟ to tell you ⌞this news⌟ in order to win your favor.’ ”
6When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you with 400 men.”
7Jacob was terrified and distressed. So he divided the people, the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels into two camps. 8He thought, “If Esau attacks the one camp, then the other camp will be able to escape.”
9Then Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac! Lord, you said to me, ‘Go back to your land and to your relatives, and I will make you prosperous.’ 10I’m not worthy of all the love and faithfulness you have shown me. I only had a shepherd’s staff when I crossed the Jordan River, but now I have two camps. 11Please save me from my brother Esau, because I’m afraid of him. I’m afraid that he’ll come and attack me and the mothers and children too. 12But you did say, ‘I will make sure that you are prosperous and that your descendants will be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to count them because there are so many.’ ”
13He stayed there that night. Then he prepared a gift for his brother Esau from what he had brought with him: 14200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep, 1530 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.
16He placed servants in charge of each herd. Then he said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep a distance between the herds.” 17He commanded the first servant, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose animals are these ahead of you?’ 18then say, ‘Sir, they belong to your servant Jacob. This is a gift sent to you. Jacob is right behind us.’ ” 19He also commanded the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said, “Say the same thing to Esau when you find him. 20And be sure to add, ‘Jacob is right behind us, sir.’ ” He thought, “I’ll make peace with him by giving him this gift that I’m sending ahead of me. After that I will see him, and he’ll welcome me back.” 21So Jacob sent the gift ahead of him while he stayed in the camp that night.
Jacob’s Fourth Encounter with God—He Wrestles with God
22During that night he got up and gathered his two wives, his two slaves and his eleven children and crossed at the shallow part of the Jabbok River. 23After he sent them across the stream, he sent everything else across. 24So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until dawn. 25When the man saw that he could not win against Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that it was dislocated as they wrestled. 26Then the man said, “Let me go; it’s almost dawn.”
But Jacob answered, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
27So the man asked him, “What’s your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel [He Struggles With God], because you have struggled with God and with men—and you have won.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
The man answered, “Why do you ask for my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there. 30So Jacob named that place Peniel [Face of God], because he said, “I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved.” 31The sun rose as he passed Penuel.#32:31 Another name for Peniel. He was limping because of his hip. 32(Therefore, even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle of the thigh attached to the hip socket because God touched the socket of Jacob’s hip at the muscle of the thigh.)
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Genesis 32
32
Esau Comes to Meet Jacob
1So Jacob went on his way, and #Num. 22:31; 2 Kin. 6:16, 17; (Ps. 34:7; 91:1; Heb. 1:14)the angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s #Josh. 5:14; Ps. 103:21; 148:2; Luke 2:13camp.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother #Gen. 14:6; 33:14, 16in the land of Seir, #Gen. 25:30; 36:6–9; Deut. 2:5; Josh. 24:4the country of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, #Prov. 15:1“Speak thus to my lord Esau, ‘Thus your servant Jacob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now. 5#Gen. 30:43I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that #Gen. 33:8, 15I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”
6Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and #Gen. 33:1he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7So Jacob was greatly afraid and #Gen. 32:11; 35:3distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies. 8And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape.”
9#(Ps. 50:15)Then Jacob said, #Gen. 28:13; 31:42“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord #Gen. 31:3, 13who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you’: 10I am not worthy of the least of all the #Gen. 24:27mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with #Job 8:7my staff, and now I have become two companies. 11#Ps. 59:1, 2Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and #Hos. 10:14the mother with the children. 12For #Gen. 28:13–15You said, ‘I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the #Gen. 22:17sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’ ”
13So he lodged there that same night, and took what came to his hand as #Gen. 43:11a present for Esau his brother: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put some distance between successive droves.” 17And he commanded the first one, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you?’ 18then you shall say, ‘They are your servant Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.’ ” 19So he commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; 20and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will #(Prov. 21:14)appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” 21So the present went on over before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
Wrestling with God
22And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, #Num. 21:24; Deut. 3:16; Josh. 12:2and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24Then Jacob was left alone; and #Josh. 5:13–15; Hos. 12:2–4a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and #Matt. 26:41; 2 Cor. 12:7the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26And #Luke 24:28He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.”
But he said, #Hos. 12:4“I will not let You go unless You bless me!”
27So He said to him, “What is your name?”
He said, “Jacob.”
28And He said, #Gen. 35:10; 1 Kin. 18:31; 2 Kin. 17:34“Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have #Hos. 12:3, 4struggled with God and #Gen. 25:31; 27:33with men, and have prevailed.”
29Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.”
And He said, #Judg. 13:17, 18“Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He #Gen. 35:9blessed him there.
30So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For #Gen. 16:13; Ex. 24:10, 11; 33:20; Num. 12:8; Deut. 5:24; Judg. 6:22; Is. 6:5; (Matt. 5:8; 1 Cor. 13:12)I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” 31Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. 32Therefore to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.