Genesis 32
1 As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels, whom God sent, met him.
Jacob went on his way and some angels of God came to meet him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s army camp!” So he named that place Mahanaim, [which means ‘two camps’].
When he saw them he said, “This must be God's camp!” He named the place “Two Camps.”
3 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.
He sent messengers on ahead to meet his brother Esau who was living in the region of Seir in the country of Edom.
4 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.
He told them, “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau. Your servant Jacob sends you this message. I've been staying with Laban up till now,
5 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.’ “
and I have cattle and donkeys and sheep and goats, and male and female slaves. I've sent these messengers to explain this to you my lord, hoping you'll be pleased to see me.”
6 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.”
The messengers returned to Jacob and told him, “Your brother Esau is coming to meet you with 400 armed men!”
7 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.
When Jacob heard this, he was absolutely terrified. He split all the people with him, along with the sheep, goats, cattle, and camels, into two groups,
8 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.”
saying to himself, “If Esau comes and destroys one group, the other one can get away.”
9 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.’
Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham, God of my father Isaac! Lord, you were the one who told me, ‘Return to your own country and your family home, and I will treat you well.’
10 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.
I don't deserve all the trustworthy love and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I crossed the Jordan years ago with just my walking stick, and now I have two large camps.
11 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.
Please save me from my brother; defend me from Esau! I'm terrified that he's coming to attack me, my wives, and my children.
12 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.’”
You yourself told me, ‘I will definitely treat you well. I will make your descendants as numerous as the sand of the seashore—too many to count.’”
13 Jacob slept there that night. The next morning he selected some animals to give to his brother Esau.
Jacob stayed the night there. Then he picked out animals as a gift to his brother Esau:
14 He selected 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep,
200 female goats, 20 male goats; 200 ewes, 20 rams;
15 30 female camels and their offspring, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.
30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls; 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys.
16 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.”
He put his servants in charge of each of the separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep a good distance between the herds.”
17 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?’
He gave these instructions to those with the first herd: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who is your master, and where are you going, and whose are these animals with you?’
18 tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. He has sent them to you as a gift, sir. And he is coming behind us.’”
you are to say to him, ‘Your servant Jacob sends these as a gift to my lord Esau, and he's following us.’”
19 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.
He gave the same instructions to those with the second and third and all the subsequent herds, telling them, “This what you are to say to Esau when he meets you.
20 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.”
You must also tell him, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.’” Jacob said to himself, “Maybe by sending these gifts on ahead Esau won't be angry with me and when I meet him he'll be kind to me.”
21 So the men taking the gifts [PRS] went ahead, but Jacob himself stayed in the camp that night.
So the gifts went on ahead while Jacob spent the night at the camp.
22 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.
He got up during the night and took his two wives and the two personal maids and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River at the ford.
23 After he had done that, he sent other slaves, carrying all his possessions, across the river.
After helping them cross he also sent over everything that belonged to him.
24 So Jacob was left there alone. But a man came and wrestled with him until dawn.
But Jacob stayed there alone. A man came and wrestled with him until dawn.
25 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.
When the man realized he couldn't beat Jacob, he hit Jacob's hip socket and put it out of joint as he wrestled with him.
26 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!”
Then the man said, “Let me go because it's almost dawn.” “I won't let you go unless you bless me,” Jacob replied.
27 The man said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.”
“What's your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.
28 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.”
“Jacob will no longer be you name,” said the man. “Instead you will be called Israel, because you fought with God and with men and you won.”
29 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.
“Please tell me your name,” Jacob asked. “Why do you ask me my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
30 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.”
Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “I saw God face to face and I'm still alive!”
31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of what had happened to his hip.
The sun came up as Jacob left Peniel, limping along because of his damaged hip.
32 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.
(That's why, even today, Israelites don't eat the thigh tendon attached to the hip socket, because that's where the man hit Jacob's hip socket.)
