1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God's camp,” so he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom. 4 He commanded them, saying, “This is what you will say to my master Esau: This is what your servant Jacob says: 'I have been staying with Laban, and have delayed my return until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, and flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent this message to my master, so that I may find favor in your eyes.'” 6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” 7 Then Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, and also the flocks, the herds, and the camels. 8 He said, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.” 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 kindred, and I will prosper you,' 10 I am not worthy of all your acts of covenant faithfulness and of all the trustworthiness that you have done for your servant. For with only my staff I passed over 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 am afraid of him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. 12 But you said, 'I will certainly make you prosper. I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their number.'” 13 Jacob stayed there that night. He took some of what he had with him as a gift for Esau, his brother: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 These he gave these into the hand of his servants, every herd by itself. He said to his servants, “Go on ahead of me and put a space between each of the herds.” 17 He instructed the first servant, saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose animals are these that are in front of you?' 18 Then you will say, 'They are your servant Jacob's. They are a gift sent to my master Esau. See, he is also coming after us.'” 19 Jacob also gave instructions to the second group, the third, and all the men who followed the herds. He said, “You will say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 You must also say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming after us.'” For he thought, “I will appease him with the gifts that I am sending ahead of me. Then later, when I will see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So the gifts went on ahead of him. He himself stayed that night in the camp. 22 Jacob got up during the night, and he took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons. He sent them across the ford of the Jabbok. 23 In this way he sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. 24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob's hip. Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him. 26 The man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man said to him, “What is your name?” Jacob said, “Jacob.” 28 The man said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is delivered.” 31 The sun rose on Jacob as he passed Peniel. He was limping because of his hip. 32 That is why to this day the people of Israel do not eat the ligaments of the hip which are at the hip joint, because the man injured those ligaments while dislocating Jacob's hip.
Genesis · Unlocked Literal Bible
Genesis 32 Unlocked Literal Bible
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)