1 And Jacob has gone on his way, and messengers of God come on him; 2 and Jacob says, when he has seen them, “This [is] the camp of God”; and he calls the name of that place “Two Camps.” 3 And Jacob sends messengers before him to his brother Esau, toward the land of Seir, the field of Edom, 4 and commands them, saying, “Thus you say to my lord, to Esau, Thus said your servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and I linger until now; 5 and I have ox, and donkey, flock, and manservant, and maidservant, and I send to declare to my lord, to find grace in his eyes.” 6 And the messengers return to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is also coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him”; 7 and Jacob fears exceedingly, and is distressed, and he divides the people who [are] with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps, 8 and says, “If Esau comes to one camp, and has struck it—then the camp which is left has been for an escape.” 9 And Jacob says, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, YHWH who says to me, Return to your land and to your family, and I do good with you: 10 I have been unworthy of all the kind acts and of all the truth which You have done with your servant—for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I am fearing him, lest he come and has struck me—mother beside sons; 12 and You have said, I certainly do good with you, and have set your seed as the sand of the sea, which is not numbered because of the multitude.” 13 And he lodges there during that night, and takes from that which is coming into his hand, a present for his brother Esau: 14 female goats two hundred, and male goats twenty, ewes two hundred, and rams twenty, 15 suckling camels and their young ones thirty, cows forty, and bullocks ten, female donkeys twenty, and foals ten; 16 and he gives into the hand of his servants every drove by itself, and says to his servants, “Pass over before me, and a space you put between drove and drove.” 17 And he commands the first, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you, and has asked you, saying, Whose [are] you? And to where do you go? And whose [are] these before you? 18 Then you have said, Your servant Jacob’s: it [is] a present sent to my lord, to Esau; and behold, he also [is] behind us.” 19 And he commands also the second, also the third, also all who are going after the droves, saying, “According to this manner do you speak to Esau in your finding him, 20 and you have also said, Behold, your servant Jacob [is] behind us”; for he said, “I pacify his face with the present which is going before me, and afterward I see his face; it may be he lifts up my face”; 21 and the present passes over before his face, and he has lodged during that night in the camp. 22 And he rises in that night, and takes his two wives, and his two maidservants, and his eleven children, and passes over the passage of Jabbok; 23 and he takes them, and causes them to pass over the brook, and he causes that which he has to pass over. 24 And Jacob is left alone, and One wrestles with him until the ascending of the dawn; 25 and He sees that He is not able for him, and He comes against the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh is disjointed in his wrestling with Him; 26 and He says, “Send Me away, for the dawn has ascended”: and he says, “I do not send You away, except You have blessed me.” 27 And He says to him, “What [is] your name?” And he says, “Jacob.” 28 And He says, “Your name is no longer called Jacob, but Israel; for you have reigned with God and with men, and prevail.” 29 And Jacob asks and says, “Please declare Your Name”; and He says, “Why [is] this, you ask for My Name?” And He blesses him there. 30 And Jacob calls the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is delivered”; 31 and the sun rises on him when he has passed over Penuel, and he is halting on his thigh; 32 therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew which shrank, which [is] on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because He came against the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, against the sinew which shrank.
Genesis · Literal Standard Version
Genesis 32 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)