Genesis 32
New American Standard Bible
Jacob’s Fear of Esau
32 Now as Jacob went on his way, (A)the angels of God met him. 2 And when he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s [a]camp.” So he named that place [b](B)Mahanaim.
3 Then Jacob (C)sent messengers ahead of himself to his brother Esau in the land of (D)Seir, the [c]country of (E)Edom. 4 He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says the following: “I have resided with Laban, and (F)stayed until now; 5 and (G)I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent messengers to tell my lord, (H)so that I may find favor in your sight.”’”
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore (I)he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was (J)greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 8 for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and [d]attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9 Then Jacob said, “(K)God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who said to me, ‘(L)Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will [e]make you prosper,’ 10 [f]I am unworthy (M)of all the [g]favor and of all the [h]faithfulness, which You have shown to Your servant; for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. 11 (N)Save me, please, (O)from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and [i]attack me and the (P)mothers with the children. 12 For You said, ‘(Q)I will assuredly [j]make you prosper and (R)make your [k]descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be counted.’”
13 So he spent the night there. Then he [l]selected from what [m]he had with him a (S)gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 Then he placed them in the [n]care of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between flocks.” 17 And he commanded the [o]one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ 18 then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’” 19 Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “In this way you shall speak to Esau when you find him; 20 and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the gift passed on ahead of him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.
22 Now he got up that same night and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven children, and crossed the shallow place of the (T)Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.
Jacob Wrestles
24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man (U)wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of [p]Jacob’s hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “(V)I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then (W)he said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but [q]Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 And (X)Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place [r]Peniel, for he said, “(Y)I have seen God face to face, yet my [s]life has been [t]spared.” 31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over (Z)Penuel, and he was limping on his hip. 32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the tendon of the hip which is on the socket of the hip, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip in the tendon of the hip.
Footnotes
- Genesis 32:2 Or company
- Genesis 32:2 I.e., Two Camps, or Two Companies
- Genesis 32:3 Lit field
- Genesis 32:8 Lit strikes
- Genesis 32:9 Lit do good with you
- Genesis 32:10 Lit I am less than all
- Genesis 32:10 I.e., generosity
- Genesis 32:10 Or truth
- Genesis 32:11 Lit strike
- Genesis 32:12 Lit do good with you
- Genesis 32:12 Lit seed
- Genesis 32:13 Lit took
- Genesis 32:13 Lit had come to his hand
- Genesis 32:16 Lit hand
- Genesis 32:17 Lit first
- Genesis 32:25 Lit his
- Genesis 32:28 I.e., he who contends with God; or God contends
- Genesis 32:30 I.e., the face of God
- Genesis 32:30 Lit soul
- Genesis 32:30 Lit saved
Genesis 32
The Message
32 1-2 And Jacob went his way. Angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them he said, “Oh! God’s Camp!” And he named the place Mahanaim (Campground).
3-5 Then Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir in Edom. He instructed them: “Tell my master Esau this, ‘A message from your servant Jacob: I’ve been staying with Laban and couldn’t get away until now. I’ve acquired cattle and donkeys and sheep; also men and women servants. I’m telling you all this, my master, hoping for your approval.’”
6 The messengers came back to Jacob and said, “We talked to your brother Esau and he’s on his way to meet you. But he has four hundred men with him.”
7-8 Jacob was scared. Very scared. Panicked, he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two camps. He thought, “If Esau comes on the first camp and attacks it, the other camp has a chance to get away.”
9-12 And then Jacob prayed, “God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, God who told me, ‘Go back to your parents’ homeland and I’ll treat you well.’ I don’t deserve all the love and loyalty you’ve shown me. When I left here and crossed the Jordan I only had the clothes on my back, and now look at me—two camps! Save me, please, from the violence of my brother, my angry brother! I’m afraid he’ll come and attack us all, me, the mothers and the children. You yourself said, ‘I will treat you well; I’ll make your descendants like the sands of the sea, far too many to count.’”
13-16 He slept the night there. Then he prepared a present for his brother Esau from his possessions: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty camels with their nursing young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. He put a servant in charge of each herd and said, “Go ahead of me and keep a healthy space between each herd.”
17-18 Then he instructed the first one out: “When my brother Esau comes close and asks, ‘Who is your master? Where are you going? Who owns these?’—answer him like this, ‘Your servant Jacob. They are a gift to my master Esau. He’s on his way.’”
19-20 He gave the same instructions to the second servant and to the third—to each in turn as they set out with their herds: “Say ‘Your servant Jacob is on his way behind us.’” He thought, “I will soften him up with the succession of gifts. Then when he sees me face-to-face, maybe he’ll be glad to welcome me.”
21 So his gifts went before him while he settled down for the night in the camp.
22-23 But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.
24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn’t get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob’s hip out of joint.
26 The man said, “Let me go; it’s daybreak.”
Jacob said, “I’m not letting you go ’til you bless me.”
27 The man said, “What’s your name?”
He answered, “Jacob.”
28 The man said, “But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it’s Israel (God-Wrestler); you’ve wrestled with God and you’ve come through.”
29 Jacob asked, “And what’s your name?”
The man said, “Why do you want to know my name?” And then, right then and there, he blessed him.
30 Jacob named the place Peniel (God’s Face) because, he said, “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!”
31-32 The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don’t eat the hip muscle; because Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint.)
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson