Genesis 32
1 And Jacob departed for his journey; and having looked up, he saw the host of God encamped; and the angels of God met him.
As Jacob and his family continued traveling, some angels, whom God sent, met him.
2 And Jacob said, when he saw them, This is the Camp of God; and he called the name of that place, Encampments.
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 him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, to the country 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 charged them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob; I have sojourned with Laban 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 there were born to me oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants and women-servants; and I sent to tell my lord Esau, that your servant might find grace in your sight.
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 your brother Esau, and behold! he comes to meet you, 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 And Jacob was greatly terrified, and was perplexed; and he divided the people that was with him, and the cows, and the camels, and the sheep, 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 Jacob said, If Esau should come to one camp, and strike it, the other camp shall be in safety.
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 Abraam, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you [are] he that said to me, Depart quickly to the land of your birth, and I will do you 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 Let there be to me a sufficiency of all the justice and all the truth which you have wrought with your servant; for with this my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am 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 from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest haply he should come and strike me, and the mother upon 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 But you said, I will do you good, and will make your seed as the sand of the sea, which shall not 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 slept there that night, and took of the gifts which he carried [with him], and sent out to 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, twenty he-goats, two hundred sheep, twenty rams,
He selected 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 female sheep and 20 male sheep,
15 milch camels, and their foals, thirty, forty kine, ten bulls, twenty asses, and ten colts.
30 female camels and their offspring, 40 cows and ten bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.
16 And he gave them to his servants [each] drove apart; 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 charged the first, saying, If Esau my brother meet you, and he ask you, saying, Whose are you? and whither would you go, and whose are these possessions advancing before you?
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 You shall say, Your servant Jacob's; he has sent gifts to my lord Esau, and behold! he 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 charged the first and the second and the third, and all that went before him after these flocks, saying, Thus shall you speak to Esau when you 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 you shall say, Behold your servant Jacob comes after us. For he said, I will propitiate his countenance with the gifts going before his presence, and afterwards I will behold his face, for 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 So the presents went on before him, but 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 in that night, and took his two wives and his two servant-maids, and his eleven children, and crossed over the ford of Jaboch.
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 passed over the torrent, and brought over all his possessions.
After he had done that, he sent other slaves, carrying all his possessions, across the river.
24 And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him till the morning.
So Jacob was left there alone. But a man came and wrestled with him until dawn.
25 And he saw that he prevailed not against him; and he touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob's thigh was benumbed in his wrestling 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 to him, Let me go, for the day has dawned; but he said, I will not let you go, except you 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 your name? and he answered, Jacob.
The man said to him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.”
28 And he said to him, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name; for you have prevailed with God, and shall be mighty with men.
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 your name; and he said, Therefore do you ask 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 that place, the Face of God; for, [said he, ]I have seen God face to face, and my life was 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 the sun rose upon him, when he passed the Face of God; and he halted upon his thigh.
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 will by no means eat of the sinew which was benumbed, which is on the broad part of the thigh, until this day, because [the angel] touched the broad part of the thigh of Jacob—[even] the sinew which was benumbed.
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.
