Genesis 32 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Jacob went on his way and some angels of God came to meet him.
1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 When he saw them he said, “This must be God's camp!” He named the place “Two Camps.”
2 When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 He sent messengers on ahead to meet his brother Esau who was living in the region of Seir in the country of Edom.
3 Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
4 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,
4 He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.
5 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.”
5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob and told him, “Your brother Esau is coming to meet you with 400 armed men!”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7 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,
7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, along with the flocks, the herds, and the camels, into two companies.
8 saying to himself, “If Esau comes and destroys one group, the other one can get away.”
8 He said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”
9 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.’
9 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’
10 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.
10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.
11 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.
11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.
12 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.’”
12 You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
13 Jacob stayed the night there. Then he picked out animals as a gift to his brother Esau:
13 He stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him a present for Esau, his brother:
14 200 female goats, 20 male goats; 200 ewes, 20 rams;
14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
15 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls; 20 female donkeys, 10 male donkeys.
15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.
16 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.”
16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.”
17 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?’
17 He commanded the foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, ‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’
18 you are to say to him, ‘Your servant Jacob sends these as a gift to my lord Esau, and he's following us.’”
18 Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’”
19 He gave the same instructions to those with the second and third and all the subsequent herds, telling them, “This is what you are to say to Esau when he meets you.
19 He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.
20 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.”
20 You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me.”
21 So the gifts went on ahead while Jacob spent the night at the camp.
21 So the present passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
22 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.
22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.
23 After helping them cross he also sent over everything that belonged to him.
23 He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
24 But Jacob stayed there alone. A man came and wrestled with him until dawn.
24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
25 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.
25 When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, the man touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained as he wrestled.
26 Then the man said, “Let me go because it's almost dawn.” “I won't let you go unless you bless me,” Jacob replied.
26 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”
27 “What's your name?” the man asked. “Jacob,” he replied.
27 He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.
28 “Jacob will no longer be your name,” said the man. “Instead you will be called Israel, because you fought with God and with men and you won.”
28 He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob asked. “Why do you ask me my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.
29 Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” So he blessed him there.
30 Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “I saw God face to face and I'm still alive!”
30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
31 The sun came up as Jacob left Peniel, limping along because of his damaged hip.
31 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.
32 (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.)
32 Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 91:11; Psalm 34:7; Ephesians 3:10; Hebrews 1:4; 2 Kings 6:16–17
- 2 2 Samuel 2:8; Joshua 5:14; Joshua 21:38; 1 Kings 2:8; Luke 2:13
- 3 Joshua 24:4; Genesis 25:30; Genesis 14:6; Genesis 33:14; Deuteronomy 2:5
- 4 1 Peter 3:6; 1 Kings 20:32; Genesis 33:8; Genesis 32:18; Genesis 27:37
- 5 Genesis 33:8; Genesis 33:15; Job 6:22; Genesis 33:11; 2 Samuel 16:4
- 6 Genesis 33:1; Amos 5:19; Genesis 32:11; Genesis 27:40–41; Genesis 32:8
- 7 Genesis 35:3; Genesis 32:11; Psalm 107:6; Proverbs 2:11; 2 Corinthians 1:8–10
- 8 Genesis 33:1–3; Matthew 10:16
- 9 Genesis 31:42; Psalm 34:4–6; Genesis 31:3; Genesis 28:13; Genesis 31:13
- 10 Psalm 18:35; Genesis 24:27; 2 Samuel 7:18; 1 Timothy 1:12–15; Job 42:5–6
- 11 Psalm 59:1–2; Proverbs 18:19; Matthew 6:13; Psalm 31:2; Daniel 3:17
- 12 Genesis 28:13–15; Hebrews 6:17; Titus 1:2; Genesis 22:17; Genesis 46:3–4
- 13 Proverbs 18:16; Genesis 43:11; Proverbs 17:8; Proverbs 19:6; Proverbs 21:14
- 14 Job 1:3; Deuteronomy 8:18; Job 42:12; Genesis 31:16; Genesis 31:9
- 16 Isaiah 28:26; Matthew 10:16; Proverbs 2:11; Genesis 33:8–9; Psalm 112:5
- 17 Genesis 33:3
- 18 Genesis 32:4–5
- 20 Job 42:8–9; Proverbs 21:14; Proverbs 16:14; 2 Timothy 2:25; Genesis 43:11
- 22 Deuteronomy 3:16; Deuteronomy 2:37; Joshua 12:2; 1 Timothy 5:8; Genesis 35:22–26
- 24 Hosea 12:3–5; Ephesians 6:12; Genesis 32:28; Luke 13:24; Genesis 32:30
- 25 2 Corinthians 12:7–9; Hosea 12:3–4; Genesis 32:32; Matthew 26:41; Isaiah 45:11
- 26 Hosea 12:4; Psalm 115:12–13; 2 Corinthians 12:8–9; Psalm 67:1; 1 Chronicles 4:10
- 28 Revelation 2:17; Genesis 35:10; Isaiah 62:2–4; Hosea 12:3–5; Genesis 27:33–36
- 29 Job 11:7; Isaiah 9:6; Judges 13:16–18; Hosea 6:1; Genesis 27:28–29
- 30 Exodus 24:10–11; Numbers 12:8; Isaiah 6:5; Deuteronomy 5:24; Genesis 16:13
- 31 2 Corinthians 12:7; Malachi 4:2; Genesis 19:15; Psalm 38:17; Genesis 32:25
- 32 1 Samuel 5:5
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… eternal, and of right belongs eternally to Jerusalem the free mother, where the genuine people of Israel shall be: for this name is interpreted "Seeing God;" in the desire of which reward a pious life is to be led through faith in this miserable pilgrimage.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
And said to Him, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." When the conqueror was blessed by the Conquered, Christ was figured.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
But this Jacob, when he received another name, heard the same words, "Thou shalt not be called Jacob, but Israel shalt thou be called." Search the Scriptures, and see how that he was always called both, both Jacob and Israel.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)