Genesis 32

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home,	1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 while Jacob continued on his own way. Then God's messengers encountered Jacob.	2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 When he saw them he said, "This is God's encampment." So he named that place Mahanaim.	3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
4 Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in 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 with this message: "Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained 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 I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'"	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 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, "We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men."	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 Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps.	8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9 "If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned, "the remaining camp may still survive."	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 Then he prayed: "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.'	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 I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the Jordan here with nothing but my staff, I have now grown into two companies.	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 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and 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 You yourself said, 'I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'"	13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
14 After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau:	14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15 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 thirty milch camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten he-asses.	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 He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants, "Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next."	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 To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction: "When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, 'Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?'	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 Then you shall answer, 'They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right 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 He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely: "Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach 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 and be sure to add, 'Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned, "If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me."	21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
22 So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp.	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 In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.	23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
24 After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions,	24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25 Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.	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 When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled.	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 The man then said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until you bless me."	27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 "What is your name?" the man asked. He answered, "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 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have 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 Jacob then asked him, "Do tell me your name, please." He answered, "Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell.	30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
31 Jacob named the place Peniel, "Because I have seen God face to face," he said, "yet my life has been spared."	31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.
32 At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip.	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.
33 That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle.