Thematic Bible
Genesis 32:1 (show verse)
Along the way God's angels met Jacob.
Genesis 32:2 (show verse)
When he saw them, Jacob said: This is God's camp! He named that place Mahanaim.
Genesis 32:3 (show verse)
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in Seir, the country of Edom.
Genesis 32:4 (show verse)
He informed them to say: Your obedient servant, Jacob, reports to my master Esau that I have been staying with Laban and that I have delayed my return until now.
Genesis 32:5 (show verse)
I own cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and slaves. I am sending you word in the hope of gaining your favor.
Genesis 32:6 (show verse)
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said: We went to your brother Esau. He is already on his way to meet you. He has four hundred men with him.
Genesis 32:7 (show verse)
Jacob was frightened and worried. He divided the people who were with him into two groups. He also divided his sheep, goats, cattle, and camels.
Genesis 32:8 (show verse)
He thought: If Esau comes and attacks the first group, the other may be able to escape.
Genesis 32:9 (show verse)
Then Jacob prayed: O God of my father Abraham, the God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, you said to me: 'Go back to your country and your family and I will be good to you.'
Genesis 32:10 (show verse)
I am less than nothing in comparison with all your love and your faithfulness to me your servant. I only had a stick in my hand when I traveled across Jordan. Now I have become two armies.
Genesis 32:11 (show verse)
Save me from the hand of Esau, my brother. I fear that he will attack me and kill both mothers and children.
Genesis 32:12 (show verse)
You said, 'I will make sure that you are prosperous and that your descendants will be as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to count them because there are so many.'
Genesis 32:13 (show verse)
Jacob stayed there that night. Then he prepared a gift for his brother Esau from what he had brought with him:
Genesis 32:14 (show verse)
There were two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep and twenty male sheep,
Genesis 32:15 (show verse)
also thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
Genesis 32:16 (show verse)
He placed servants in charge of each herd. He said to his servants: Go ahead of me, and maintain a distance between the herds.
Genesis 32:17 (show verse)
He commanded the first servant: When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and whose animals are these ahead of you?'
Genesis 32:18 (show verse)
Say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. This is a gift sent to you. Jacob is directly behind us.'
Genesis 32:19 (show verse)
He also commanded the second servant, the third, and all the others who followed the herds. He said: Say the same thing to Esau when you find him.
Genesis 32:20 (show verse)
Be sure to say, 'Jacob is right behind us.' He thought: I will make peace with him by giving him this gift that I am sending ahead of me. After that, I will see him, and he will welcome me back.
Genesis 32:21 (show verse)
Jacob sent the gift ahead of him, while he stayed in the camp that night.
Genesis 32:22 (show verse)
That same night Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two concubines, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok River.
Genesis 32:23 (show verse)
After he sent them across, he also sent across all that he owned.
Genesis 32:24 (show verse)
Then Jacob was by himself. A man was fighting with him till dawn.
Genesis 32:25 (show verse)
The man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob. He gave him a blow in the hollow part of his thigh, so that his leg was damaged.
Genesis 32:26 (show verse)
He said to him: Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said: I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.
Genesis 32:27 (show verse)
Then he asked: What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
Genesis 32:28 (show verse)
The man said: Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel (He Struggles With God), because you have struggled with God and with men and you have won.
Genesis 32:29 (show verse)
Jacob said: Please tell me your name. The man answered: Why do you ask for my name? Then he blessed Jacob there.
Genesis 32:30 (show verse)
Jacob named that place Peniel (Face of God), because he said: I have seen God face to face, yet my life was saved.
Genesis 32:31 (show verse)
The sun rose as he passed Penuel. He was limping because of his thigh.
Genesis 32:32 (show verse)
Therefore, even today the people of Israel do not eat the muscle of the thigh (the sinew) attached to the hip socket. This is because God touched the socket of Jacob's thigh at the muscle.