Genesis, Chapter 32:
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Verses from Genesis, Chapter 32 of the Book of Genesis of the Bible.
Jacob prepares to meet Esau
- 1. Jacob continued on his way and God's angels met him.
- 2, When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp!” Therefore, he named that place Mahanaim.
- 3. Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
- 4. He gave them this command: “Say this to my lord Esau: This is what Jacob says: 'I lived as a foreigner with Laban and have remained there until now.
- 5. I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, male and female servants. I now send this message to my lord, to obtain his favor'”.
- 6. The messengers returned to Jacob, bringing him the news that Esau was coming to meet him, accompanied by four hundred men.
- 7. With great fear and anguish, Jacob divided the people who accompanied him into two groups, as well as the flocks, oxen and camels.
- 8. He thought, “If Esau attacks one group and destroys it, the other group will escape.”
- 9. Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will treat you well,'
- 10. I am not worthy of all the kindness and loyalty with which you treated your servant. When I crossed the Jordan, I only had my staff, but now I have two caravans.
- 11. I ask you to deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him, that he will come and attack me, both mothers and children.
- 12. But you said, 'I will certainly do you good, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of its quantity.'”
- 13. Jacob spent there that night, and from what he had he separated a gift for his brother Esau:
- 14. two hundred goats, twenty goats, two hundred sheep, twenty rams,
- 15. thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten donkeys.
- 16. He gave them to the care of his servants, each flock separately, and said to them, “Go ahead of me and leave space between the flocks.”
- 17. And he said to the first, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these animals before you?’
- 18. you will answer, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift he is sending to my lord Esau. Jacob himself is coming after us.'
- 19. He also gave the same order to the second, the third, and all the others behind the flocks: “This is how you should speak to Esau when you meet him.
- 20. And say to him, 'Your servant Jacob is coming after us.'” For he thought: “If I placate him with gifts before my arrival, perhaps he will welcome me.”
- 21. So those present went before him, and Jacob spent that night in the camp.
Jacob wrestles with God
- 22. That night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of Jabbok.
- 23. After he had made them cross the stream, he made everything that belonged to him cross.
- 24. But Jacob was left alone, and a man fought with him until daybreak.
- 25. When the man saw that he could not overcome him, he touched his hip joint; and Jacob's hip joint dislocated as he wrestled with him.
- 26. Then the man said, “Let me go, for the day is breaking.” But Jacob answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
- 27. Then the man asked him, “What is your name? “Jacob,” he replied.
- 28. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”
- 29. Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you want to know my name? ” And blessed him there.
- 30. Jacob called the place Peniel, for he said, “I saw the face of God face to face, and my life was spared.”
- 31. The sun was rising when Jacob crossed Peniel, limping because of his hip.
- 32. Therefore, the Israelites do not eat the tendon near the hip joint, because the man had touched Jacob's hip joint there.
