Chapter 32

Chapter 32

1 Jacob went on his way, and the Messengers of The All-Powerful One met him.

2 When Jacob saw them, he said, 'This is the camp of The All-Powerful One.' So he named that place Mahanaim (Two Camps).

3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

4 He commanded them, saying, 'Thus you shall say to my master Esau: 'Thus says your servant Jacob, 'I have resided as a foreigner with Laban and have stayed until now.

5 I have acquired oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants; and I have sent to report to my master, that I might find favor in your eyes.''

6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, 'We came to your brother Esau, and he is also coming to meet you, and 400 men are with him.'

7 Then Jacob was exceedingly afraid and distressed; so he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps.

8 For he said, 'If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the one camp that remains shall escape.'

9 Jacob said, 'The All-Powerful One of my father Abraham and the All-Powerful One of my father Isaac, The Self-Existent who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will endow you with the power of life,'

10 I am unworthy of all the unswerving loyalty and all the truth which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

11 Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, the mothers with the children.

12 But You said, 'I will surely endow you with the power of life, and I will make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered because of its abundance.'

13 So he spent the night there, and from what he had with him he took a tribute for his brother Esau:

14 200 female goats and 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams,

15 20 milk camels with their colts, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys.

16 He delivered them into the hand of his servants, each drove by itself, and said to his servants, 'Pass on ahead of me, and put a space between drove and drove.'

17 He commanded the one in front, saying, 'When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose are these in front of you?'

18 then you shall say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a tribute sent to my master Esau; and look, he also is behind us.''

19 He commanded also the second and the third, and all who followed the droves, saying, 'In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

20 and you shall say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is also behind us.'' For he said, 'I will appease him with the tribute that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.'

21 So the tribute passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

22 He arose that night and took his two women, his two maidservants, and his 11 children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

23 He took them and sent them across the stream; he sent across all that he had.

24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.

25 When he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled with him.

26 Then he said, 'Let me go, for the day is breaking.' But he said, 'I will not let you go unless you bestow the power of life upon me.'

27 So he said to him, 'What is your name?' And he said, 'Jacob.'

28 He said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (God-Struggler), for you have struggled with The All-Powerful One and with men, and have prevailed.'

29 Jacob asked and said, 'Please tell me your name.' But he said, 'Why is it that you ask my name?' And he bestowed the power of life upon him there.

30 Jacob named the place Peniel (Face of The All-Powerful), saying, 'For I have seen The All-Powerful One face to face, and my soul has been preserved.'

31 The sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping because of his thigh.

32 Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh, which is on the socket of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the thigh.