Genesis 32:16-32 ▼

16 He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”

17 He instructed the one in the lead, “When my brother Esau (hairy) meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong, where are you going, and whose animals are these before you?’

18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob (he grasps the heel). They are a gift, sent to my lord Esau (hairy). And behold, Jacob is behind us.’”

19 He also instructed the second, the third, and all those following behind the herds: “When you⁺ meet Esau (hairy), you⁺ are to say the same thing to him.

20 You⁺ are also to say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob (he grasps the heel) is right behind us.’” For he thought, “I will appease Esau (I will appease his face) with the gift that is going before me. After that I can face him, and perhaps he will accept me \perhaps he will lift up my face/.

21 So Jacob’s gifts went on before him, while he spent the night in the camp.

22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok (emptying).

23 He took them and sent them across the stream, along with all his possessions.

24 So Jacob (he grasps the heel) was left all alone, and there a man (Man) wrestled with him until daybreak.

25 When the man saw that he could not overpower Jacob, he struck the socket of Jacob’s hip and dislocated it (he grasps the heel) as they wrestled.

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 “What is your name?” the man asked. “Jacob (he grasps the heel),” he replied.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob (he grasps the heel), but Israel (he wrestles with God), because you have struggled with God {Elohim} and with men, and you have prevailed.”

29 And Jacob (he grasps the heel) requested, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed Jacob there.

30 So Jacob (he grasps the heel) named the place Peniel (facing God), saying, “Indeed, I have seen God {Elohim} face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

31 The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel (Peniel), and he was limping because of his hip.

32 Therefore to this day the Israelites (God Prevails) do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s (he grasps the heel) hip was struck near that tendon.