Genesis

The first book of Moses, called Genesis, chapter 32, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 32 New English Translation

Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

   1 So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.
   3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region of Edom. 4 He commanded them, "This is what you must say to my LORD Esau: 'This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my LORD, so that I may find favor in your sight.'"
   6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, "We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him." 7 Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. 8 "If Esau attacks one camp," he thought, "then the other camp will be able to escape."
   9 Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, you said to me, 'Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.' 10 I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant. With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children. 12 But you said, 'I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.'"
   13 Jacob stayed there that night. Then he sent as a gift to his brother Esau 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He entrusted them to his servants, who divided them into herds. He told his servants, "Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next." 17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, "When my brother Esau meets you and asks, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?' 18 then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my LORD Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"
   19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, "You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 You must also say, 'In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me." 21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp.
   22 During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
   26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." "I will not let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me." 27 The man asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "Jacob." 28 "No longer will your name be Jacob," the man told him, "but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed."
   29 Then Jacob asked, "Please tell me your name." "Why do you ask my name?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, "Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived."
   31 The sun rose over him as he crossed over Penuel, but he was limping because of his hip. 32 That is why to this day the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck the socket of Jacob's hip near the attached sinew.

King James Version

   1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
   2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
   3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
   4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
   5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.
   6 ¶ And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
   7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;
   8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
   9 ¶ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
   10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
   11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.
   12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
   13 ¶ And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
   14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
   15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
   16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
   17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?
   18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.
   19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
   20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
   21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
   22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
   23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
   24 ¶ And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
   25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
   26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
   27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
   28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
   29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
   30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
   31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
   32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.