Genesis
Chapter 32
1 Jacob continued his journey, and God’s angels met him.
2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s group,” and he named that place Mahanaim.
3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in Seir, the region of Edom.
4 He told them, “Say this to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, “I have lived with Laban and have remained there till now.”’
5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, male servants, and female servants. I’ve sent this message to tell you, hoping to win your favor.
6 The messengers came back to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and he has four hundred men with him.”
7 Jacob was very scared and worried, so he split the people with him, the sheep, cattle, and camels into two groups.
8 He said, “If Esau attacks one group, the other group that is left can escape.”
9 Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, God who told me to go back to my country and my family, and you will be good to me.”
10 I am not worthy of even the smallest kindnesses or truths you have shown to me, your servant; I crossed the Jordan River with only my stick, and now I have two groups.
11 Please save me from my brother Esau. I am afraid he will attack me, along with the mothers and their children.
12 You said, I will surely be good to you, and make your descendants as many as the sand of the sea, too many to count.
13 He stayed there that night and chose some gifts from what he had for his brother Esau.
14 Two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred female sheep, and twenty male sheep.
15 Thirty nursing camels with their babies, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten young donkeys.
16 He gave the herds to his workers, each herd separate; and told them, “Go ahead of me and leave space between each herd.”
17 He instructed the lead group, “When you meet my brother Esau and he asks, ‘Who do you belong to? Where are you going? Who owns all these animals ahead of you?’”
18 Then you will say, “They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a gift for my lord Esau, and look, he is also coming behind us.”
19 He also told the second, the third, and all who followed with the herds, “This is how you should talk to Esau when you meet him.”
20 Also say, Look, your servant Jacob is coming after us. He thought, I can make peace with him by sending gifts ahead, and then I can meet him; maybe he will forgive me.
21 The gift went ahead of him, and he spent that night in the camp.
22 He got up that night, took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the Jabbok river crossing.
23 He took them and helped them cross the stream, then sent over everything he owned.
24 Jacob was alone, and a man wrestled with him until dawn.
25 When he saw he could not win against him, he touched the inside of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
26 He said, “Let me go, for it’s almost morning.” But he replied, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”
27 He asked him, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”
28 He said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with people and have overcome.”
29 Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He replied, “Why do you want to know my name?” And he blessed Jacob there.
30 Jacob named the place Peniel because he saw God face to face and his life was saved.
31 As he walked past Penuel, the sun came up, and he limped because of his thigh.
32 So the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the hip socket to this day, because God touched the hip socket of Jacob at the tendon that shrank.