Chapter 32

^1 [a]Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them; then he set out on his journey back home. ² Meanwhile Jacob continued on his own way, and God’s angels encountered him. ³ When Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s encampment.” So he named that place Mahanaim.^[b]

Envoys to Esau. ⁴ Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,^{(A) 5} ordering them: “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob: I have been residing with Laban and have been delayed until now. ⁶ I own oxen, donkeys and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I have sent my lord this message in the hope of gaining your favor.’” ⁷ When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We found your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁸ Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps. ⁹ “If Esau should come and attack one camp,” he reasoned, “the remaining camp may still escape.” ¹⁰ Then Jacob prayed: “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You, Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your land and your relatives, and I will be good to you.’^{(B) 11} I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness and faithfulness that you have performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two camps. ¹² Save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau! Otherwise I fear that he will come and strike me down and the mothers with the children. ¹³ You yourself said, ‘I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”^(C)

¹⁴ After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: ¹⁵ two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; ¹⁶ thirty female camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁷ He put these animals in the care of his servants, in separate herds, and he told the servants, “Go on ahead of me, but keep some space between the herds.” ¹⁸ He ordered the servant in the lead, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?’ ¹⁹ tell him, ‘To your servant Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. Jacob himself is right behind us.’” ²⁰ He also ordered the second servant and the third and all the others who followed behind the herds: “Thus and so you shall say to Esau, when you reach him; ²¹ and also tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” For Jacob reasoned, “If I first appease him with a gift that precedes me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me.” ²² So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.

Jacob’s New Name.^{[c] 23} That night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁴ After he got them and brought them across the wadi and brought over what belonged to him, ²⁵ Jacob was left there alone. Then a man^[d] wrestled with him until the break of dawn. ²⁶ When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that Jacob’s socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him.^{(D) 27} The man then said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” ²⁸ “What is your name?” the man asked. He answered, “Jacob.”^{(E) 29} Then the man said, “You shall no longer be named Jacob, but Israel,^[e] because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.” ³⁰ Jacob then asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He answered, “Why do you ask for my name?” With that, he blessed him. ³¹ Jacob named the place Peniel,^[f] “because I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”^(F)

³² At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. ³³ That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, because he had struck Jacob’s hip socket at the sciatic muscle.

Chapter 33

Jacob and Esau Meet.^{[g] 1} Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and with him four hundred men. So he divided his children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants, ² putting the maidservants and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. ³ He himself went on ahead of them, bowing to the ground seven times, until he reached his brother. ⁴ Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, and flinging himself on his neck, kissed him as he wept.

⁵ Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children and asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “They are the children with whom God has graciously favored your servant.” ⁶ Then the maidservants and their children came forward and bowed low; ⁷ next, Leah and her children came forward and bowed low; lastly, Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed low. ⁸ Then Esau asked, “What did you intend with all those herds that I encountered?” Jacob answered, “It was to gain my lord’s favor.” ⁹ Esau replied, “I have plenty; my brother, you should keep what is yours.” ¹⁰ “No, I beg you!” said Jacob. “If you will do me the favor, accept this gift from me, since to see your face is for me like seeing the face of God—and you have received me so kindly. ¹¹ Accept the gift I have brought you. For God has been generous toward me, and I have an abundance.” Since he urged him strongly, Esau accepted.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us break camp and be on our way; I will travel in front of you.” ¹³ But Jacob replied: “As my lord knows, the children are too young. And the flocks and herds that are nursing are a concern to me; if overdriven for even a single day, the whole flock will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord, then, go before his servant, while I proceed more slowly at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of my children, until I join my lord in Seir.” ¹⁵ Esau replied, “Let me at least put at your disposal some of the people who are with me.” But Jacob said, “Why is this that I am treated so kindly, my lord?” ¹⁶ So on that day Esau went on his way back to Seir, ¹⁷ and Jacob broke camp for Succoth.^[h] There Jacob built a home for himself and made booths for his livestock. That is why the place was named Succoth.

¹⁸ Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram. He encamped in sight of the city.^{(G) 19} The plot of ground on which he had pitched his tent he bought for a hundred pieces of money^[i] from the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem.^{(H) 20} He set up an altar there and invoked “El, the God of Israel.”^(I)

Psalm 22^[a]

The Prayer of an Innocent Person

¹ For the leader; according to “The deer of the dawn.”^[b] A psalm of David.

I

II

III

IV

Chapter 13

The Parable of the Sower. ^1 [a]On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.^{(A) 2} Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. ^3 [b]And he spoke to them at length in parables,^[c] saying: “A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, ⁶ and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. ⁷ Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. ⁸ But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. ⁹ Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Purpose of Parables. ¹⁰ The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ^11 [d]He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. ^12 (B)To anyone who has, more will be given^[e] and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ^13 [f](C)This is why I speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’ ^14 (D)Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

The Privilege of Discipleship.^{[g] 16 (E)}“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

The Explanation of the Parable of the Sower.^{[h] 18 (F)}“Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. ²⁰ The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. ²¹ But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. ²² The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. ²³ But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”