Genesis 32
1 When, Jacob, had gone on his way, there met him, messengers of God.
As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels, whom God sent, met him.
2 And Jacob said, when he saw them, the camp of God, is this! So he called the name of that place, Mahanaim.
When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s army camp!” So he named that place Mahanaim, [which means ‘two camps’].
3 Then did Jacob send messengers before him unto Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
Jacob told some of the men to go ahead of him to his older brother Esau, who was living in Seir, the land where the descendants of Edom lived.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus, shall ye say to my lord to Esau, Thus, saith thy servant Jacob, With Laban, have I sojourned, and tarried until now:
He told them, “This is what I want you to say to Esau: 'I, Jacob, want to be your servant and I want you to be my master. I have been living with our uncle Laban, and I have stayed there until now.
5 And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men-servants, and maid-servants, So I must needs send to tell my lord, that I might find favour in thine eyes.
I now own many cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and male and female slaves. Now I am sending this message to you, sir, hoping that you will (be friendly toward me/treat me kindly) when I arrive.’ “
6 And the messengers returned unto Jacob, saying, —We came in unto thy brother unto Esau, moreover also he is on his way to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
The messengers went and gave that message to Esau. When they returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your older brother Esau. Now he is coming to you, and 400 men are coming with him.”
7 Then was Jacob greatly afraid, and in distress. So he divided the people that were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two camps,
Jacob was very afraid and worried. So he divided the people who were with him into two groups. He also divided the sheep and goats, the cattle, and the camels, into two groups.
8 And he said. Should Esau come upon the one camp, and smite it, yet shall the camp that is left escape.
He was thinking, “If Esau and his men come and attack us, perhaps one of the groups will be left and will be able to escape.”
9 And Jacob said, God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, —Yahweh, who wast saying unto me, —Return to thy land and to thy kindred that I may deal well with thee:
Then Jacob prayed, “O Yahweh God, whom my grandfather Abraham worshiped and my father Isaac worships, you said to me, ‘Go back to your own land and to your relatives, and I will (cause good things happen to/do good things for) you.’
10 I am too small for all the lovingkindnesses and for all the faithfulness, which thou hast done unto thy servant, —For with my staff, passed I over this Jordan, But, now, have I become two camps.
I am not worthy for you to have been so kind and faithful to me in so many ways, your servant. I had only this walking stick with me when I crossed the Jordan [River on my way to Haran], but now I am so wealthy that there are two large groups of my family and possessions.
11 Deliver me I pray thee out of the hand of my brother out of the hand of Esau, for I, am afraid of him, lest he come in and smite mother as well as sons
So now I pray that you will rescue me from [MTY] my [older] brother Esau, because I am afraid that he and his men will come and attack and kill me and the children and their mothers.
12 But, thou thyself, saidst, —I will deal well with thee. So will I make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is not to be counted, for multitude.
But do not forget that you have said, ‘I will certainly enable you to prosper, and I will cause your descendants to be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, which are so many that no one can count them.’”
13 And he tarried there that night, and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother:
Jacob slept there that night. The next morning he selected some animals to give to his brother Esau.
14 She-goats, two hundred; And he-goats, twenty; Ewes, two hundred; And rams, twenty;
He selected 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep,
15 Milch camels, with their colts, thirty; Cows, forty; And bulls, ten; She-asses, twenty; And young he asses ten.
30 female camels and their offspring, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.
16 And he gave them into the hand of his Servants, each drove by itself, and said unto his servants—Pass over before me, and, a breathing-space, shall ye put betwixt drove and drove.
He divided them into small herds, and put each herd into the care of one of his servants. He said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, one group at a time, and keep some space between each herd.”
17 And he commanded the first one saying: When Esau my brother shall fall in with thee, and shall ask thee, saying Whose art thou? and whither wouldst thou go? and to whom belong these before thee?
He said to the servant who was going with the first group, “When my brother Esau meets you, and he asks you, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’
18 then shalt thou say, To thy servant Jacob: It is, a present, sent to my lord, to Esau; And behold he himself also is behind us,
tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He has sent them to you as a gift, sir. And he is coming behind us.’”
19 And he commanded the second also, and the third yea all that were going on behind the droves, saying, —According to this word, shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
He also said the same thing to the servants who were taking care of the second and third groups, and to the other herdsmen. He said to them, “When you meet Esau, I want you to say to him the same thing that I told the first servant.
20 Then shall ye say, Also, lo! thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said: I must pacify him with the present that goeth on before me. And, after that, will I see his face: Peradventure he will accept me.
And be sure to say ‘Jacob, who wants to serve you, is coming behind us.’” Jacob told them to say that because he was thinking, “Perhaps these gifts that I am sending ahead of me will cause him to (act peacefully toward/stop being angry with) me. Then later, when I see him, perhaps he will be kind to me.”
21 So the present passed over before him, —whereas he himself tarried that night in the camp.
So the men taking the gifts [PRS] went ahead, but Jacob himself stayed in the camp that night.
22 And he arose in that night and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, —and passed over the ford of Jabbok.
Some time during that night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female slaves, and his eleven sons and his daughter, and he sent them across the ford at the Jabbok River.
23 So he took them, and sent them over the brook, —and sent over that which he had.
After he had done that, he sent other slaves, carrying all his possessions, across the river.
24 And Jacob was left alone, —and there wrestled a man with him, until the uprisings of the dawn.
So Jacob was left there alone. But a man came and wrestled with him until dawn.
25 And when he saw, that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, —and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
When the man realized that he was not winning against Jacob, he struck Jacob’s hip and caused the thigh bone to pull away from the hip socket.
26 Then said he—Let me go, for uprisen hath the dawn. And he said: I will not let thee go, except thou have blessed me
Then the man said, “Let me go, because it will soon be daylight.” [Then Jacob realized who he was really wrestling with]. So he replied, “No, if you will not bless me, I will not let you go!”
27 Then he said unto him—What is thy name? And he said—Jacob.
The man said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.”
28 Then he said—Not Jacob, shall thy name be called any more, but Israel, —For thou hast contended with God and with men and hast prevailed.
The man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will be Israel, [which means ‘he struggles with God’, ] because you have struggled with God and with people, and you have won.”
29 Then asked Jacob and said, Do, I pray thee, tell me thy name! And he said—Wherefore now, shouldest thou ask for my name? And he blessed him there,
Jacob said, “Now, please tell me your name!” The man replied, “(Why do you ask me what my name is?/You should not have to ask me what my name is!)” [RHQ] But he blessed Jacob there.
30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; For I saw God face to face; and my soul was delivered,
So Jacob named the place Peniel, [which means ‘God’s face’, ] saying “I looked directly at God, but I did not die because of doing that.”
31 And the sun rose on him as soon as he had passed over Penuel, —he, moreover was halting upon his thigh,
The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of what had happened to his hip.
32 For this cause, the sons of Israel eat not of the nerve of the large hip-sinew, which is by the hollow of the thigh, until this day, —because he touched the hollow of the thigh of Jacob, in the nerve of the hip-sinew.
The muscle on his hip joint had been injured. So to this present time, because of what happened to Jacob, the Israeli people do not eat the muscle/tendon that is attached to the socket of the hips of animals.
