Genesis, 32

¹ Jacob then went on his way, and the angels of God met up with him.

² As soon as he saw them, Jacob said: “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Ma·ha·naʹim.^*1

³ Then Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Eʹsau in the land of Seʹir, the territory^*1 of Eʹdom,

⁴ and he commanded them: “This is what you will say to my lord, to Eʹsau, ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: “I have resided^*1 with Laʹban for a long time until now.

⁵ And I have acquired bulls, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants, and I send this message to inform my lord, in order to find favor in your eyes.”’”

⁶ In time the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: “We met your brother Eʹsau, and he is now on his way to meet you, and there are 400 men with him.”

⁷ And Jacob became very frightened and anxious. So he divided the people who were with him, as well as the flocks, the cattle, and the camels, into two camps.

⁸ He said: “If Eʹsau attacks the one camp, then the other camp will be able to escape.”

⁹ After that Jacob said: “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, you who are saying to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives, and I will deal well with you,’

¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the loyal love and of all the faithfulness that you have shown toward your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan and now I have become two camps.

¹¹ Save me, I pray you, from the hand of my brother Eʹsau, for I am afraid of him that he may come and attack me, as well as the mothers and their children.

¹² And you have said: ‘I will certainly deal well with you, and I will make your offspring^*1 like the grains of sand of the sea, which are too numerous to count.’”

¹³ And he spent the night there. Then he took some of his possessions as a gift for Eʹsau his brother:

¹⁴ 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 female sheep, 20 rams,

¹⁵ 30 camels nursing their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 full-grown male donkeys.

¹⁶ He handed them over to his servants, one drove after another, and he said to his servants: “Cross over ahead of me, and you are to set a space between one drove and the next.”

¹⁷ He also commanded the first one: “In case Eʹsau my brother should meet you and ask, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these ahead of you belong?’

¹⁸ then you should say, ‘To your servant Jacob. It is a gift sent to my lord, to Eʹsau, and look! he himself is also behind us.’”

¹⁹ And he commanded also the second, the third, and all those following the droves: “According to this word, you are to speak to Eʹsau when you meet him.

²⁰ And you should also say, ‘Here is your servant Jacob behind us.’” For he said to himself: ‘If I appease him by sending a gift ahead of me, then afterward when I see him, he may give me a kindly reception.’

²¹ So the gift crossed over ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

²² Later during that night, he rose and took his two wives and his two female servants and his 11 young sons and crossed over the ford of Jabʹbok.

²³ So he took them and brought them across the stream,^*1 and he brought over everything else he had.

²⁴ Finally Jacob was left by himself. Then a man began to wrestle with him until the dawn broke.

²⁵ When he saw that he had not prevailed over him, he touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated during his wrestling with him.

²⁶ After that he said: “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” To this he said: “I am not going to let you go until you bless me.”

²⁷ So he said to him: “What is your name?” to which he said: “Jacob.”

²⁸ Then he said: “Your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel,^*1 for you have contended with God and with men and you have at last prevailed.”

²⁹ In turn Jacob inquired: “Tell me, please, your name.” However, he said: “Why is it that you ask my name?” With that he blessed him there.

³⁰ So Jacob named the place Pe·niʹel,^*1 for he said, “I have seen God face-to-face, yet my life^*2 was preserved.”

³¹ And the sun rose upon him as soon as he passed by Pe·nuʹel,^*1 but he was limping because of his hip.

³² That is why to this day the sons of Israel are not accustomed to eat the thigh sinew,^*1 which is on the socket of the hip joint, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip joint by the thigh sinew.