The Genesis
Chapter
32
1 Well, as Jacob [was about to] continue on his journey, he looked up and saw the camp of the army of God, and a messenger of God [coming to] meet him. 2 And when Jacob saw this, he said: 'Why, this [place] is the campground of God!' So he named that place, The Campgrounds.
3 Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir and the country of the Edomites. 4 He told them to say to Esau, 'Lord, this is what your servant Jacob has said: I have visited with Laban and stayed there until now. 5 And [during this time], oxen, burros, sheep, and male and female servants were born to me. Now I've sent [my messengers] to beg you, my lord Esau, to help your servant find favor in your eyes.'
6 Well, the messengers returned to Jacob and said: 'We reached your brother Esau, and {Look!} now he's coming to meet you with four hundred men!'
7 Jacob was terrified (very upset) by this. So he divided the people that were with him (as well as the cattle, camels, and sheep) into two camps. 8 And Jacob said: 'If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the other camp will survive.'
9 Then Jacob [prayed]: 'O God of my father AbraHam and God of my father IsaAc… O Lord; You're the One who told me, Return quickly to the land where you were born, and I will treat you well. 10 So now; [recognize] all the justice and truth that You've brought about through Your servant. 'With this walking stick of mine, I have now crossed the JorDan [River] divided into two camps. 11 So, save me from the hands of my brother – from the hands of Esau – because I'm afraid of him, since [he may] be happy to come and strike me down [along with] the mothers and the children. 12 However, you told me that You will treat me well and make my seed as the sands of the seas… so many that they can't be counted.'
13 Well, he slept there that night, [then he selected] gifts to be carried to his brother Esau. 14 [There were] two hundred nanny goats, twenty billy goats, two hundred sheep, twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels and their foals, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty burros, and ten colts. 16 Then he gave them to his servants and told them: 'Go ahead of me… and put a space between each of the herds.'
17 He told the first group: 'If you meet my brother Esau, and he asks, Who sent you, where are you headed, and whose animals are [being herded] in front of you? 18 you should say, [We were sent by] your servant Jacob, and he is sending these as gifts to his lord Esau… {Look!} he's [traveling] behind us.'
19 And the same instructions that he gave to the first [group], he gave to the second and the third… to everyone who traveled ahead of him (following the herds), he said, 'This is what you should tell Esau when you find him… 20 Look! Your servant Jacob is following behind us.' [For Jacob said]: 'I want to [sooth Esau's feelings] with the gifts that [are being carried] ahead of me; then I can look him in the face and hope that he will accept me.' 21 So the gifts went out ahead of him, as he spent the night in the camp.
22 Then during the night, he got up and took his two women, the two female servants, and his eleven children, and they crossed the Jaboch River… 23 he took them and all his possessions through the raging river.
24 It was there that while Jacob was all by himself, a man came and wrestled with him until the next morning. 25 [And when the man] saw that he wasn't going to win, he touched the upper part of Jacob's thigh, which became numb as they wrestled. 26 Then [the man] told [Jacob]: 'Let me go, because the sun is coming up!' But [Jacob] said: 'I'm not going to let you go until you give me a blessing!'
27 So [the man] asked: 'What is your name?' And he answered, 'Jacob.'
28 And [the man] told him: 'Your name will no longer be Jacob. Rather, IsraEl will be your name; for you've grown stronger with God and mightier with men.'
29 Then Jacob said: 'Tell me your name.' And he said: 'Why do you [have to] ask my name?' Then He blest him there. 30 And Jacob named that place, PeniEl (Face of God); for he said: 'I've seen God face to face and survived.'
31 Well, the sun had risen on him by the time he left PeniEl, where he had been stopped by his thigh. 32 And this is why the children of IsraEl, even to this day, will never eat that part of meat which [God had] numbed (the upper part of the thigh), because that was the part of the thigh on Jacob, which [God's messenger] had numbed.
3 Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir and the country of the Edomites. 4 He told them to say to Esau, 'Lord, this is what your servant Jacob has said: I have visited with Laban and stayed there until now. 5 And [during this time], oxen, burros, sheep, and male and female servants were born to me. Now I've sent [my messengers] to beg you, my lord Esau, to help your servant find favor in your eyes.'
6 Well, the messengers returned to Jacob and said: 'We reached your brother Esau, and {Look!} now he's coming to meet you with four hundred men!'
7 Jacob was terrified (very upset) by this. So he divided the people that were with him (as well as the cattle, camels, and sheep) into two camps. 8 And Jacob said: 'If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the other camp will survive.'
9 Then Jacob [prayed]: 'O God of my father AbraHam and God of my father IsaAc… O Lord; You're the One who told me, Return quickly to the land where you were born, and I will treat you well. 10 So now; [recognize] all the justice and truth that You've brought about through Your servant. 'With this walking stick of mine, I have now crossed the JorDan [River] divided into two camps. 11 So, save me from the hands of my brother – from the hands of Esau – because I'm afraid of him, since [he may] be happy to come and strike me down [along with] the mothers and the children. 12 However, you told me that You will treat me well and make my seed as the sands of the seas… so many that they can't be counted.'
13 Well, he slept there that night, [then he selected] gifts to be carried to his brother Esau. 14 [There were] two hundred nanny goats, twenty billy goats, two hundred sheep, twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels and their foals, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty burros, and ten colts. 16 Then he gave them to his servants and told them: 'Go ahead of me… and put a space between each of the herds.'
17 He told the first group: 'If you meet my brother Esau, and he asks, Who sent you, where are you headed, and whose animals are [being herded] in front of you? 18 you should say, [We were sent by] your servant Jacob, and he is sending these as gifts to his lord Esau… {Look!} he's [traveling] behind us.'
19 And the same instructions that he gave to the first [group], he gave to the second and the third… to everyone who traveled ahead of him (following the herds), he said, 'This is what you should tell Esau when you find him… 20 Look! Your servant Jacob is following behind us.' [For Jacob said]: 'I want to [sooth Esau's feelings] with the gifts that [are being carried] ahead of me; then I can look him in the face and hope that he will accept me.' 21 So the gifts went out ahead of him, as he spent the night in the camp.
22 Then during the night, he got up and took his two women, the two female servants, and his eleven children, and they crossed the Jaboch River… 23 he took them and all his possessions through the raging river.
24 It was there that while Jacob was all by himself, a man came and wrestled with him until the next morning. 25 [And when the man] saw that he wasn't going to win, he touched the upper part of Jacob's thigh, which became numb as they wrestled. 26 Then [the man] told [Jacob]: 'Let me go, because the sun is coming up!' But [Jacob] said: 'I'm not going to let you go until you give me a blessing!'
27 So [the man] asked: 'What is your name?' And he answered, 'Jacob.'
28 And [the man] told him: 'Your name will no longer be Jacob. Rather, IsraEl will be your name; for you've grown stronger with God and mightier with men.'
29 Then Jacob said: 'Tell me your name.' And he said: 'Why do you [have to] ask my name?' Then He blest him there. 30 And Jacob named that place, PeniEl (Face of God); for he said: 'I've seen God face to face and survived.'
31 Well, the sun had risen on him by the time he left PeniEl, where he had been stopped by his thigh. 32 And this is why the children of IsraEl, even to this day, will never eat that part of meat which [God had] numbed (the upper part of the thigh), because that was the part of the thigh on Jacob, which [God's messenger] had numbed.
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