NIV 2011
Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
32 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.
3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”
9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for 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 put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
WYC 1382
Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
32 Forsooth Jacob went forth in the way in which he began, and the angels of the Lord met him. 2 And when he had seen them, he said, These be the castles of God; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 Soothly Jacob sent before him also messengers to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, in the country of Edom; 4 and he commanded to them, and said, Thus speak ye to my lord Esau, (and say,) Thy brother Jacob saith these things, I have been a pilgrim at Laban, and I was (there) till into this present day; 5 I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and handmaids, and I send now a message to my lord, that I find grace in thy sight.
6 And the messengers turned again to Jacob, and said, We came to Esau, thy brother, and lo! he hasteth him into thy coming, with four hundred men.
7 Jacob dreaded greatly, and he was afeared, and he parted the people that was with him, and he parted the flocks, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two companies; 8 and he said, If Esau shall come to one company, and shall smite it, the other company which is left unsmitten, shall be saved.
9 And Jacob said, O! God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O! Lord, that saidest to me, Turn thou again into thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I shall do well to thee 10 I am less than all thy merciful doings, and than (all) thy truth which thou hast [ful]filled to thy servant; with (only) my staff I passed (over) this Jordan, and now I go (back over) again with two companies; 11 deliver thou me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I dread him greatly, lest he come and smite (me, and) the mothers with the sons.12 Thou spakest that thou shouldest do well to me, and wouldest alarge my seed as [the] gravel of the sea, that may not be numbered for muchliness.
13 And when Jacob had slept there in that night, he separated of those things which he had, (as) gifts to Esau, his brother, 14 two hundred (she) goats, and twenty bucks of goats, (and) two hundred sheep, and twenty rams, 15 camels full with their foals thirty, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and [the] ten foals of them. 16 And he sent by the hands of his servants all the flocks by themselves; and he said to his servants, Go ye before me, and (let) a space be betwixt (a) flock and (a) flock.
17 And he commanded to the former, and said, If thou shalt meet my brother Esau, and he shall ask thee, whose man thou art, or whither thou goest, or whose be these things which thou followest, 18 thou shalt answer, (They be) Of thy servant Jacob; he hath sent (them as) gifts to his lord Esau, and he cometh after us.
19 In like manner, he gave commandments to the second, and to the third, and to all that followed the flocks; and said, Speak ye by the same words to Esau, when ye find him,20 and ye shall add, Also Jacob himself thy servant followeth our way. For Jacob said, I shall please Esau with (the) gifts that go before (me), and (then) afterward I shall see him; in hap he shall be merciful to me. 21 And so the gifts went before him; soothly he dwelled in that night in the tents.
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 And when Jacob had risen hastily, he took his two wives, and so many handmaids, with (his) eleven sons, and he passed (over) the ford of Jabbok. 23 And when all things that pertained to him were led over, 24 (and) Jacob dwelled (there) alone, and, lo! a man (came, and) wrestled with him till to the morrowtide. 25 And when the man saw that he might not overcome Jacob, he touched the sinew of Jacob’s hip, and it dried anon.
26 And he said to Jacob, Let go thou me, for the morrowtide goeth up now.
Jacob answered, I shall not let go thee, no but thou bless me.
27 Therefore he said, What name is to thee?
(And) He answered, Jacob.
28 And the man said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou were strong against God, how much more shalt thou have power against men.
29 Jacob asked him, Say thou to me by what name thou art called?
He answered, Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? And he blessed Jacob in the same place.
30 And Jacob called the name of that place Penuel, and said, I saw the Lord face to face, and my life is made safe.
31 And anon the sun rose to him, after that he had passed (over from) Penuel; forsooth he halted in the foot. 32 For which cause the sons of Israel eat not unto this present day the sinew, (like that) that dried in the hip of Jacob.
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