创世记 32
Chinese New Version (Simplified)
雅各作好准备与以扫相见
32 雅各继续他的路程， 神的众使者遇见他。（本节在《马索拉文本》为32:2） 2 雅各看见他们，就说：“这是 神的军队。”于是给那地方起名叫玛哈念。
3 雅各先派使者到西珥地，就是以东的地区，他的哥哥以扫那里去， 4 吩咐他们说：“你们要对我主以扫这样说：‘你的仆人雅各这样说：我在拉班那里寄居，一直到现在。 5 我拥有牛、驴、羊群、仆婢，现在派人来报告我主，希望得到你的欢心。’” 6 使者回到雅各那里说：“我们到了你哥哥以扫那里，他带着四百人，正迎着你来。” 7 雅各感到非常惧怕和焦虑，就把随行的人、羊群、牛群和骆驼，分成两队， 8 心里想：“即使以扫来击杀这一队，余下的一队还可以逃脱。” 9 雅各说：“耶和华，我祖亚伯拉罕的 神，我父以撒的 神啊，你曾经对我说过：‘回到你自己的故乡，到你的亲族那里去，我必厚待你。’ 10 你向你仆人所施的一切慈爱和信实，我实在不配得。从前我只拿着我的手杖过这约旦河；现在我却拥有这两队人马了。 11 求你救我脱离我哥哥以扫的手，因为我怕他来击杀我，连母亲和孩子也击杀了。 12 你曾经说过：‘我必厚待你，使你的后裔好象海边的沙一样，多到不可胜数。’”
13 那天晚上，雅各在那里过夜。然后从他所拥有的牲畜中，取出一部分，作为给他哥哥以扫的礼物， 14 就是母山羊二百只、公山羊二十只、母绵羊二百只、公绵羊二十只、 15 哺乳的母骆驼三十匹，各带着驹子，母牛四十头、公牛十头、母驴二十头、公驴十头。 16 雅各把这些分成一队一队，交在仆人的手里，又对仆人说：“你们先过去，每队之间要留一段距离。” 17 他又吩咐走在最前的仆人说：“我哥哥以扫遇见你的时候，如果问你：‘你的主人是谁？你要到哪里去？在你前面的这些牲畜是谁的？’ 18 你就要回答：‘是你仆人雅各的，是送给我主以扫的礼物，他自己也在我们后面。’” 19 他又吩咐第二个、第三个和所有跟在队伍后面的人说：“你们遇见以扫的时候，都要这样对他说。 20 你们还要说：‘你的仆人雅各在我们后面。’”因为他心里想：“我先送礼物去，藉此与他和解，然后再与他见面，或者他会原谅我（“他会原谅我”或译：“他会接纳我”）。” 21 于是礼物先过去了；那天晚上雅各在营中过夜。
22 雅各那夜起来，带着他的两个妻子、两个婢女和十一个孩子，都过了雅博渡口。
雅各与天使摔角
23 他带着他们，先打发他们过河，然后又打发他所有的都过去。 24 只留下雅各一人，有一个人来与他摔角，直到天快亮的时候。 25 那人见自己不能胜过他，就在他的大腿窝上打了一下。于是，雅各与那人摔角的时候，大腿窝脱了节。 26 那人说：“天快亮了，让我走吧。”雅各说：“如果你不给我祝福，我就不让你走。”
雅各获胜之后改名以色列
27 那人问他：“你叫甚么名字？”他回答：“雅各。” 28 那人说：“你的名字不要再叫雅各，要叫以色列，因为你与 神与人较力，都得了胜。” 29 雅各问他，说：“请把你的名告诉我。”那人回答：“为甚么问我的名呢？”他就在那里给雅各祝福。 30 于是，雅各给那地方起名叫毘努伊勒，意思说：“我面对面看见了 神，我的性命仍得保全。” 31 雅各经过毘努伊勒的时候，太阳刚刚出来，照在他身上。他因为大腿的伤，跛脚行走。 32 因此，以色列人直到现在都不吃大腿窝上的筋，因为那人在雅各的大腿窝上的筋打了一下。
Genesis 32
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 32
1 Laban rose early in the morning, kissed his grandsons and daughters, and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.
Jacob Prepares To Meet Esau.[a] 2 As Jacob continued his journey, angels of God appeared to him. 3 When Jacob saw them he said, “This is the encampment of God,” and he called the place Mahanaim. 4 Then Jacob sent some messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 5 He gave them this command, “Say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and I remained there until now. 6 I have come to own oxen, donkeys, flocks, male and female slaves. I am sending my lord this information to seek his favor.’ ”
7 The messengers returned to Jacob saying, “We went to your brother Esau. Now he is coming to meet you and he has four hundred men with him.” 8 Jacob was terribly afraid and filled with anxiety. He divided the men of his camp into two groups along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels. 9 He thought, “If Esau were to come to one group and destroy it, the other would be safe.”
10 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, Lord, who told me, ‘Return to your land, to your homeland, and I will bless you,’ 11 I am not worthy of the goodness and faithfulness that you have shown your servant. When I passed over the Jordan I had nothing but my staff, and now I have become so rich that I could establish two camps. 12 Save me from the hands of my brother Esau because I am afraid of him. Let him not come and kill all of us, even the mothers and children. 13 Besides, you said, ‘I will make you prosper and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so numerous that you cannot count them.’ ”
14 Jacob spent the night there. Then he selected the following gifts from among his possessions for his brother Esau: 15 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 16 thirty nursing camels and their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 17 He entrusted them to his servants, in separate groups, and told them, “Go ahead of me and leave some space between the groups.”
18 He gave this order to the first group, “When you meet Esau, my brother, and he asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Who owns all these animals that you are driving?’ 19 you are to answer, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift for my lord Esau. And Jacob himself is behind us.’ ”
20 He gave the same order to the second group and the third and all the other groups: “These are the words that you shall say to Esau when you meet him. 21 Tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” He was thinking, “The gifts that I am sending will calm him down, and then I will come before him. Maybe he will greet me kindly.” 22 Thus, the gifts went ahead of him, while he spent the night in the camp.
23 A Mysterious Struggle.[b] During the night Jacob arose, took his two wives, his two slaves, and his eleven sons and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. 24 He took them, crossed over the brook and carried over all his possessions. 25 So Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn. 26 Seeing that he could not beat him, the man struck Jacob at the hip joint. Jacob’s hip joint became dislocated while he continued to fight with him. 27 The man said, “Let me go because it is dawn.”
Jacob answered, “I will not let go of you until you will have blessed me.”
28 The man asked, “What is your name?”
He answered, “Jacob.”
29 The man then said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel[c] because you have wrestled with God and with man and have won.”
30 Jacob said to him, “Give me your name.” He answered, “Why are you asking my name?” And then he blessed him. 31 Jacob called the place Peniel[d] because he said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive.”
32 The sun rose and Jacob left Penuel limping. 33 This is why Israelites to this day do not eat the sinew of the thigh, because the man had struck Jacob’s hip joint and the sinew shrank.
Footnotes
- Genesis 32:2 The way that Jacob has taken obliges him to go through the territory of the Edomites, and the suspicious Esau has undoubtedly not yet digested the wicked trick that his brother has played on him (Gen 27:1-45). According to the traditions, Jacob takes measures to save half of his caravan in case of a struggle or to disarm the hatred by gifts; the prayer that the author places on his lips provides the key to his story. Despite his unworthiness, Jacob is the heir of the promises; that is why the Lord protects him and heaps favors upon him. The adventures of the hero as well as those of the chosen people (Ex 3:11; Deut 7:7f) verify a law of the action of God who causes his power to appear through the weakness of human beings.
- Genesis 32:23 After the twenty years in Mesopotamia that were meant to purify him and straighten him out, Jacob is ready at last to begin his life as Patriarch of God’s people in the Promised Land. In the stranger who wrestles with him at the ford of the Jabbok without revealing his name, Jacob recognizes the Lord and compels him to give his blessing. This is a confirmation of the patriarchal blessing that he had received from his father (Gen 27:27-29; 28:3-4) and also from the Lord (Gen 28:13-15) when he was beginning his journey abroad. Here the blessing is accompanied by the giving of a new name, an action that indicates a special act of taking possession: from this moment on Jacob will truly be God’s man, who along with the name receives his special mission in life. From now on we see a man who has gradually learned to live by faith (see vv. 10-13, etc.).
- Genesis 32:29 Israel: the real etymology is uncertain; it may mean “God is mighty” or “God shows himself mighty.” Here, however, the popular etymology is given: “He has shown his strength by wrestling with God” (see also Hos 12:4-5).
- Genesis 32:31 Peniel: a variant of Penuel, a town north of the Jabbok in Gilead (Jdg 8:8f, 17). I have seen God face to face: apart from the present context, this means to present oneself before God in the sanctuary with offerings for worship (see Deut 16:16).
Chinese New Version (CNV). Copyright © 1976, 1992, 1999, 2001, 2005 by Worldwide Bible Society.
