Genesis 32
1 And Jacob went on his way; and the angels of God met him.
As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels, whom God sent, met him.
2 And when Jacob saw them he said, This is the camp of God. And 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 And Jacob sent messengers before his face to Esau his brother, into the land of Seir, the fields 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 speak to my lord, to Esau: Thy servant Jacob speaks thus — 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, sheep, and bondmen, and bondwomen; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may 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 to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau; and he also is coming 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 Jacob was greatly afraid, and was distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the sheep and the cattle and the camels, into two troops.
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, If Esau come to the one troop and smite it, then the other troop which is left shall 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, Jehovah, who saidst unto me: Return into thy country and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good,
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 loving-kindness and all the faithfulness that thou hast shewn unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two troops.
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, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, [and] the mother with the children.
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 And thou saidst, I will certainly deal well with thee, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered 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 lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother —
Jacob slept there that night. The next morning he selected some animals to give to his brother Esau.
14 two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams;
He selected 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep,
15 thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses.
30 female camels and their offspring, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.
16 And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between 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 foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are 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 thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he 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 so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to 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 And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps 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 And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged 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 rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the 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 and he took them and led them over the river, and led over what he had.
After he had done that, he sent other slaves, carrying all his possessions, across the river.
24 And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until the rising 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 did not prevail against him, he touched the joint of his thigh; and the joint of Jacob's thigh was dislocated 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 And he said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless 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 And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
The man said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.”
28 And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled 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 And Jacob asked and said, Tell [me], I pray thee, thy name. And he said, How is it that thou askest after 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 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel — For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.
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 as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him; and he limped upon his hip.
The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of what had happened to his hip.
32 Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew that is over the joint of the thigh, to this day; because he touched the joint of Jacob's thigh — the 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.
