GenesisChapter 32

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹Jacob also went on his way. And the angels of God met him. ²When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp!" So he named that place Mahanaim.a ³Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau. Esau lived in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴Jacob told them, "Say this to my master Esau: 'Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban. I have stayed there until now. ⁵I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I am sending this message to tell my master, so that you will be kind to me.'" ⁶The messengers came back to Jacob. They said, "We went to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you. He has four hundred men with him." ⁷Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he split his people into two camps. He split the flocks, herds, and camels too. ⁸He thought, "If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can get away." ⁹Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac! O LORD, you told me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you do well.' ¹⁰I am not worthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown me, your servant. I had only my walking stick when I crossed the Jordan. But now I have become two camps. ¹¹Please save me from the hand of my brother Esau. I am afraid that he will come and attack me, and the mothers and children with me. ¹²But you said, 'I will surely make you do well. I will make your children and their children like the sand of the sea. There will be too many to count.'" 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, 200 female sheep and 20 rams, ¹⁵30 camels that gave milk with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, and 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. ¹⁶He put each herd in the care of his servants. He told them, "Go on ahead of me. Keep some space between the herds." ¹⁷He told the servant in front, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, 'Who do you belong to? Where are you going? Whose animals are these in front of you?' ¹⁸Then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my master Esau. And look, Jacob is coming behind us.'" ¹⁹He gave the same orders to the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said, "When you meet Esau, say the same thing to him. ²⁰And also say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" Jacob said this because he thought, "I will calm Esau down with the gift I am sending ahead. After that I can see him face to face. Maybe he will welcome me." ²¹So Jacob's gifts went on ahead of him. But he spent the night in the camp. ²²During the night Jacob got up. He took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons. He crossed the river Jabbok at a shallow place. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream. He sent all that he owned across too. ²⁴So Jacob was left all alone. There a man wrestled with him until the sun came up. ²⁵The man saw that he could not win against Jacob. So he struck Jacob's hip socket. Jacob's hip was pulled out of joint as they wrestled. ²⁶Then the man said, "Let me go. The sun is coming up." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." ²⁷"What is your name?" the man asked. "Jacob," he answered. ²⁸Then the man said, "Your name will not be Jacob anymore. It will be Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have won."b ²⁹Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." But the man said, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed Jacob there. ³⁰So Jacob named the place Peniel. He said, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared."c ³¹The sun rose over him as he passed Penuel. He was limping because of his hip. ³²That is why the Israelites still do not eat the tendon attached to the hip socket today. It is because Jacob's hip socket was struck near that tendon.