American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Genesis 32
1
And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 91:11
2
And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Reference
📍 Mahanaim
Parallel theme
2 Samuel 2:8
Joshua 21:38
Joshua 5:14
Psalm 148:2
Psalm 34:7
1 Kings 2:8
2 Samuel 17:24
References God
Luke 2:13
3
And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
Reference
📍 Edom
4
And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you speak to my lord Esau; Your servant Jacob said thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 6:3
Proverbs 15:1
Ecclesiastes 10:4
Genesis 4:7
References Lord
1 Peter 3:6
Exodus 32:22
Genesis 27:29
Genesis 23:6
Genesis 27:37
Genesis 32:18
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 your sight.
Reference
Grace
Genesis 33:8
Genesis 33:15
Genesis 33:11
Genesis 47:25
1 Samuel 1:18
Ruth 2:2
2 Samuel 16:4
Parallel theme
Job 6:22
Genesis 31:16
6
And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother Esau, and also he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.
Reference
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;
Reference
8
And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
Reference
Parallel theme
Matthew 10:16
9
And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which said to me, Return to your country, and to your kindred, and I will deal well with you:
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 50:15
Psalm 91:15
References God
Genesis 31:42
Genesis 31:13
Genesis 28:13
Genesis 31:53
Exodus 3:6
Genesis 17:7
Genesis 31:29
References Lord
Genesis 31:3
10
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which you have showed to your servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
Reference
📍 Jordan
11
Deliver me, I pray you, 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.
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 18:19
12
And you said, I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Reference
13
And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 43:11
Proverbs 18:16
Proverbs 17:8
Proverbs 19:6
Proverbs 21:14
Genesis 43:26
15
Thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
16
And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space between drove and drove.
17
And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, saying, Whose are you? and where go you? and whose are these before you?
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 33:3
18
Then you shall say, They be your servant Jacob's; it is a present sent to my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.
19
And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall you speak to Esau, when you find him.
20
And say you moreover, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
Reference
Parallel theme
Proverbs 21:14
21
So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
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.
Reference
📍 Jabbok
23
And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
24
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Reference
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
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let you go, except you bless me.
Reference
27
And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
28
And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince have you power with God and with men, and have prevailed.
Reference
Parallel theme
Revelation 2:17
Genesis 17:5
Proverbs 16:7
John 1:42
Genesis 33:4
Genesis 25:31
References God
Genesis 35:10
Genesis 17:15
Isaiah 65:15
References Israel
2 Kings 17:34
29
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray you, your name. And he said, Why is it that you do ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Reference
30
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Reference
📍 Peniel
Parallel theme
Numbers 12:8
Isaiah 6:5
Hebrews 11:27
Exodus 33:14
2 Timothy 1:10
References God
Genesis 16:13
Deuteronomy 5:24
John 1:18
Ephesians 1:17
31
And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he halted on his thigh.
Reference
📍 Penuel
Parallel theme
2 Corinthians 12:7
32
Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
Summary of Genesis 32
Genesis chapter thirty-two leads Jacob from the relief of having escaped from Laban into a new state of apprehension as to facing the brother he had wronged and from which he did not know what was in store for him.
A brief but notable episode opens the chapter as Jacob continues his journey; angels of God meet him and upon their meeting him, he exclaims this to be the camp of God and names the place Mahanaim, being the Hebrew word for two camps. This serves as a foreshadowing of the trials yet to come as Jacob meets one of the most stressful days of his life.
Jacob sends messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructs them as to what he should say, framing a message filled with humility, referring to himself as Esau's servant, and Esau as my lord, further stating that he has lived with Laban until now and has gained cattle, donkeys, sheep, and servants, and that he has sent this message ahead, hoping to find favor in his brother's eyes.
The messengers return with news that immediately puts Jacob into a panic, they tell him that we went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. The number four hundred here serves as a warning as the number sounds more like a host of soldiers than a welcoming party, and given the memory of Jacob's wrongs against Esau, the angry vow he made to kill him and a feeling of fear grips Jacob.
The text tells us that Jacob is greatly afraid and distressed, so he divides everyone who traveled with him, along with the flocks, herds, and camels, into two groups, figuring that if Esau comes and attacks one group, the other might still escape.
Jacob prays and this time the tone of his prayer is notably humble, and he seems truly vulnerable in the words as compared to the calculated bargain Jacob used when making his vow to God in Bethel.
Jacob calls upon the God of his father Abraham, and the God of his father Isaac, the Lord who said to him go back to your country and he is unworthy of all the kindness God has shown him and he reminds God that he crossed the Jordan with nothing but his staff, and now he has become two camps.
Jacob pleads that he be saved from his brother Esau as he is afraid that he will attack him and the mothers with their children, reminding God that he told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand of the sea, too many to be counted.
After Jacob has prayed, he returns to his practical nature and selects a large gift from his belongings to send ahead to Esau: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. Jacob divided the animals into herds and gave instructions to his servants to keep distance from one another as they traveled towards Esau. He told them that if Esau asked whose animals they were, they were to say that they belonged to Jacob, that they were a gift sent to his lord Esau, and that Jacob was right behind them. Jacob's reasoning is laid out in the narration: I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending ahead, and when I see him perhaps he will receive me.
That night Jacob sends his wives, his two female servants and his eleven children across the ford of the Jabbok along with everything he owned, but Jacob was alone behind on the other side.
And so a strange and well-known episode within this chapter occurs, as a man wrestles with him until daybreak. This mysterious figure, upon realizing that he could not overpower Jacob touches the socket of his hip, wrenching it out as they wrestled. Even injured Jacob refused to let go and the figure said let me go for it is daybreak and Jacob replied I will not let you go unless you bless me.
The man asks Jacob his name and upon his reply the man said your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome and Jacob asked the man's name, but he refused to answer and instead blessed him right there and Jacob named the place Peniel for it is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.
As the sun rises, Jacob limps away from the place. The chapter ends with a note, that this is why the Israelites, to this day, do not eat the tendon attached to the hip socket for the reason of what had happened when the man touched Jacob's hip.
There is a nice symmetry running throughout this chapter, for Jacob in the daytime was afraid of a human confrontation with his brother, and struggled with a figure he thought to be God through the night. Jacob walks away from this confrontation changed, not only in having been given a new name, but marked with a lifelong limp, yet strangely stronger and better prepared to meet Esau than before, for the schemer who took the long walk across the night river and rose up the next day is not quite the same as he was when he crossed it the night before.
A brief but notable episode opens the chapter as Jacob continues his journey; angels of God meet him and upon their meeting him, he exclaims this to be the camp of God and names the place Mahanaim, being the Hebrew word for two camps. This serves as a foreshadowing of the trials yet to come as Jacob meets one of the most stressful days of his life.
Jacob sends messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructs them as to what he should say, framing a message filled with humility, referring to himself as Esau's servant, and Esau as my lord, further stating that he has lived with Laban until now and has gained cattle, donkeys, sheep, and servants, and that he has sent this message ahead, hoping to find favor in his brother's eyes.
The messengers return with news that immediately puts Jacob into a panic, they tell him that we went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. The number four hundred here serves as a warning as the number sounds more like a host of soldiers than a welcoming party, and given the memory of Jacob's wrongs against Esau, the angry vow he made to kill him and a feeling of fear grips Jacob.
The text tells us that Jacob is greatly afraid and distressed, so he divides everyone who traveled with him, along with the flocks, herds, and camels, into two groups, figuring that if Esau comes and attacks one group, the other might still escape.
Jacob prays and this time the tone of his prayer is notably humble, and he seems truly vulnerable in the words as compared to the calculated bargain Jacob used when making his vow to God in Bethel.
Jacob calls upon the God of his father Abraham, and the God of his father Isaac, the Lord who said to him go back to your country and he is unworthy of all the kindness God has shown him and he reminds God that he crossed the Jordan with nothing but his staff, and now he has become two camps.
Jacob pleads that he be saved from his brother Esau as he is afraid that he will attack him and the mothers with their children, reminding God that he told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand of the sea, too many to be counted.
After Jacob has prayed, he returns to his practical nature and selects a large gift from his belongings to send ahead to Esau: two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, thirty female camels with their young, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys, and ten male donkeys. Jacob divided the animals into herds and gave instructions to his servants to keep distance from one another as they traveled towards Esau. He told them that if Esau asked whose animals they were, they were to say that they belonged to Jacob, that they were a gift sent to his lord Esau, and that Jacob was right behind them. Jacob's reasoning is laid out in the narration: I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending ahead, and when I see him perhaps he will receive me.
That night Jacob sends his wives, his two female servants and his eleven children across the ford of the Jabbok along with everything he owned, but Jacob was alone behind on the other side.
And so a strange and well-known episode within this chapter occurs, as a man wrestles with him until daybreak. This mysterious figure, upon realizing that he could not overpower Jacob touches the socket of his hip, wrenching it out as they wrestled. Even injured Jacob refused to let go and the figure said let me go for it is daybreak and Jacob replied I will not let you go unless you bless me.
The man asks Jacob his name and upon his reply the man said your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome and Jacob asked the man's name, but he refused to answer and instead blessed him right there and Jacob named the place Peniel for it is because I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared.
As the sun rises, Jacob limps away from the place. The chapter ends with a note, that this is why the Israelites, to this day, do not eat the tendon attached to the hip socket for the reason of what had happened when the man touched Jacob's hip.
There is a nice symmetry running throughout this chapter, for Jacob in the daytime was afraid of a human confrontation with his brother, and struggled with a figure he thought to be God through the night. Jacob walks away from this confrontation changed, not only in having been given a new name, but marked with a lifelong limp, yet strangely stronger and better prepared to meet Esau than before, for the schemer who took the long walk across the night river and rose up the next day is not quite the same as he was when he crossed it the night before.