32:1 So Jacob went on his way and the angels of God 1 met him. 32:2 When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, 2 “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim. 3
32:3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead 4 to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region 5 of Edom. 32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant 6 Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now. 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent 7 this message 8 to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.” 32:7 Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. 32:8 “If Esau attacks one camp,” 9 he thought, 10 “then the other camp will be able to escape.” 11
32:9 Then Jacob prayed, 12 “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said 13 to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’ 14 32:10 I am not worthy of all the faithful love 15 you have shown 16 your servant. With only my walking stick 17 I crossed the Jordan, 18 but now I have become two camps. 32:11 Rescue me, 19 I pray, from the hand 20 of my brother Esau, 21 for I am afraid he will come 22 and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children. 23 32:12 But you 24 said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper 25 and will make 26 your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’” 27
32:13 Jacob 28 stayed there that night. Then he sent 29 as a gift 30 to his brother Esau 32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 32:15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 32:16 He entrusted them to 31 his servants, who divided them into herds. 32 He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.” 32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, 33 “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? 34 Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ 35 32:18 then you must say, 36 ‘They belong 37 to your servant Jacob. 38 They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. 39 In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” 40
32:19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying, “You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 41 32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” 42 Jacob thought, 43 “I will first appease him 44 by sending a gift ahead of me. 45 After that I will meet him. 46 Perhaps he will accept me.” 47 32:21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him 48 while he spent that night in the camp. 49
32:22 During the night Jacob quickly took 50 his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons 51 and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 52 32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. 53 32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man 54 wrestled 55 with him until daybreak. 56 32:25 When the man 57 saw that he could not defeat Jacob, 58 he struck 59 the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.
32:26 Then the man 60 said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” 61 “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, 62 “unless you bless me.” 63 32:27 The man asked him, 64 “What is your name?” 65 He answered, “Jacob.” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, 66 “but Israel, 67 because you have fought 68 with God and with men and have prevailed.”
32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” 69 “Why 70 do you ask my name?” the man replied. 71 Then he blessed 72 Jacob 73 there. 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, 74 explaining, 75 “Certainly 76 I have seen God face to face 77 and have survived.” 78
32:31 The sun rose 79 over him as he crossed over Penuel, 80 but 81 he was limping because of his hip. 32:32 That is why to this day 82 the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck 83 the socket of Jacob’s hip near the attached sinew.
3:33 For he is not predisposed to afflict 88
or to grieve people. 89
11:8 How can I give you up, 90 O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboiim?
I have had a change of heart! 91
All my tender compassions are aroused! 92
11:1 When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, 93
and I summoned my son 94 out of Egypt.
2:4 I will have no pity on her children, 95
because they are children conceived in adultery. 96
2:2 Plead earnestly 97 with your 98 mother
(for 99 she is not my wife, and I am not her husband),
so that 100 she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, 101
and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. 102
3:1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to 103 your wife 104 again, even though she loves 105 another man 106 and continually commits adultery. 107 Likewise, the Lord loves 108 the Israelites 109 although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” 110
1 sn The phrase angels of God occurs only here and in Gen 28:12 in the OT. Jacob saw a vision of angels just before he left the promised land. Now he encounters angels as he prepares to return to it. The text does not give the details of the encounter, but Jacob’s response suggests it was amicable. This location was a spot where heaven made contact with earth, and where God made his presence known to the patriarch. See C. Houtman, “Jacob at Mahanaim: Some Remarks on Genesis XXXII 2-3,” VT 28 (1978): 37-44.
2 tn Heb “and Jacob said when he saw them.”
3 sn The name Mahanaim apparently means “two camps.” Perhaps the two camps were those of God and of Jacob.
4 tn Heb “before him.”
5 tn Heb “field.”
6 sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.
7 tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense – as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows – much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.
8 tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.”
10 tn Heb “and he said, ‘If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.” The Hebrew verb אָמַר (’amar) here represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “he thought.” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “the surviving camp will be for escape.” The word “escape” is a feminine noun. The term most often refers to refugees from war.
12 tn Heb “said.”
13 tn Heb “the one who said.”
14 tn Heb “I will cause good” or “I will treat well [or “favorably”].” The idea includes more than prosperity, though that is its essential meaning. Here the form is subordinated to the preceding imperative and indicates purpose or result. Jacob is reminding God of his promise in the hope that God will honor his word.
15 tn Heb “the loving deeds and faithfulness” (see 24:27, 49).
16 tn Heb “you have done with.”
17 tn Heb “for with my staff.” The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally translated “staff,” has been rendered as “walking stick” because a “staff” in contemporary English refers typically to the support personnel in an organization.
18 tn Heb “this Jordan.”
19 tn The imperative has the force of a prayer here, not a command.
20 tn The “hand” here is a metonymy for “power.”
21 tn Heb “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau.”
22 tn Heb “for I am afraid of him, lest he come.”
23 sn Heb “me, [the] mother upon [the] sons.” The first person pronoun “me” probably means here “me and mine,” as the following clause suggests.
24 tn Heb “But you, you said.” One of the occurrences of the pronoun “you” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
25 tn Or “will certainly deal well with you.” The infinitive absolute appears before the imperfect, underscoring God’s promise to bless. The statement is more emphatic than in v. 9.
26 tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the nuance of the preceding verb forward.
27 tn Heb “which cannot be counted because of abundance.” The imperfect verbal form indicates potential here.
28 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn Heb “and he took from that which was going into his hand,” meaning that he took some of what belonged to him.
30 sn The Hebrew noun translated gift can in some contexts refer to the tribute paid by a subject to his lord. Such a nuance is possible here, because Jacob refers to Esau as his lord and to himself as Esau’s servant (v. 4).
31 tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”
32 tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.
33 tn Heb “the first”; this has been specified as “the servant leading the first herd” in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Heb “to whom are you?”
35 tn Heb “and to whom are these before you?”
36 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it has the nuance of an imperfect of instruction.
37 tn The words “they belong” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
38 tn Heb “to your servant, to Jacob.”
39 tn Heb “to my lord, to Esau.”
40 tn Heb “and look, also he [is] behind us.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 tn Heb “And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all the ones going after the herds, saying: ‘According to this word you will speak when you find him.’”
42 tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”
43 tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”
44 tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.
45 tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”
46 tn Heb “I will see his face.”
47 tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.
48 tn Heb “and the gift passed over upon his face.”
49 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial/temporal.
50 tn Heb “and he arose in that night and he took.” The first verb is adverbial, indicating that he carried out the crossing right away.
51 tn The Hebrew term used here is יֶלֶד (yeled) which typically describes male offspring. Some translations render the term “children” but this is a problem because by this time Jacob had twelve children in all, including one daughter, Dinah, born to Leah (Gen 30:21). Benjamin, his twelfth son and thirteenth child, was not born until later (Gen 35:16-19).
52 sn Hebrew narrative style often includes a summary statement of the whole passage followed by a more detailed report of the event. Here v. 22 is the summary statement, while v. 23 begins the detailed account.
53 tn Heb “and he sent across what he had.”
54 sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.
55 sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.
56 tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”
57 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
58 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
59 tn Or “injured”; traditionally “touched.” The Hebrew verb translated “struck” has the primary meanings “to touch; to reach; to strike.” It can, however, carry the connotation “to harm; to molest; to injure.” God’s “touch” cripples Jacob – it would be comparable to a devastating blow.
60 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
61 tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”
62 tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
63 sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.
64 tn Heb “and he said to him.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
65 sn What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the
66 tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
67 sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the
68 sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).
69 sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.
70 tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.
71 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
72 tn The verb here means that the
73 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
74 sn The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.
75 tn The word “explaining” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
76 tn Or “because.”
77 sn I have seen God face to face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.
78 tn Heb “and my soul [= life] has been preserved.”
79 tn Heb “shone.”
80 sn The name is spelled Penuel here, apparently a variant spelling of Peniel (see v. 30).
81 tn The disjunctive clause draws attention to an important fact: He may have crossed the stream, but he was limping.
82 sn On the use of the expression to this day, see B. S. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until This Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.
83 tn Or “because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive. On the translation of the word “struck” see the note on this term in v. 25.
84 tn Heb “blessing.” It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.
85 tn Or “gracious,” but in the specific sense of prosperity.
86 tn Heb “all.”
87 tn Heb “and he urged him and he took.” The referent of the first pronoun in the sequence (“he”) has been specified as “Jacob” in the translation for clarity.
88 tn Heb “he does not afflict from his heart.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) preceded by the preposition מִן (min) most often describes one’s initiative or motivation, e.g. “of one’s own accord” (Num. 16:28; 24:13; Deut. 4:9; 1Kings 12:33; Neh. 6:8; Job 8:10; Is. 59:13; Ezek. 13:2, 17). It is not God’s internal motivation to bring calamity and trouble upon people.
89 tn Heb “sons of men.”
90 tn The imperfect verbs in 11:8 function as imperfects of capability. See IBHS 564 §34.1a.
91 tn The phrase נֶהְפַּךְ עָלַי לִבִּי (nehpakh ’alay libbi) is an idiom that can be taken in two ways: (1) emotional sense: to describe a tumult of emotions, not just a clash of ideas, that are afflicting a person (Lam 1:20; HALOT 253 s.v. הפך 1.c) and (2) volitional sense: to describe a decisive change of policy, that is, a reversal of sentiment from amity to hatred (Exod 14:5; Ps 105:25; BDB 245 s.v. הָפַךְ 1; HALOT 253 s.v. 3). The English versions alternate between these two: (1) emotional discomfort and tension over the prospect of destroying Israel: “mine heart is turned within me” (KJV), “my heart recoils within me” (RSV, NRSV), “My heart is turned over within Me” (NASB), “My heart is torn within me” (NLT); and (2) volitional reversal of previous decision to totally destroy Israel: “I have had a change of heart” (NJPS), “my heart is changed within me” (NIV), and “my heart will not let me do it!” (TEV). Both BDB 245 s.v. 1.b and HALOT 253 s.v. 3 suggest that the idiom describes a decisive change of heart (reversal of decision to totally destroy Israel once and for all) rather than emotional turbulence of God shifting back and forth between whether to destroy or spare Israel. This volitional nuance is supported by the modal function of the 1st person common singular imperfects in 11:8 (“I will not carry out my fierce anger…I will not destroy Ephraim…I will not come in wrath”) and by the prophetic announcement of future restoration in 11:10-11. Clearly, a dramatic reversal both in tone and in divine intention occurs between 11:5-11.
92 tn The Niphal of כָּמַר (kamar) means “to grow warm, tender” (BDB 485 s.v. כָּמַר), as its use in a simile with the oven demonstrates (Lam 5:10). It is used several times to describe the arousal of the most tender affection (Gen 43:30; 1 Kgs 3:26; Hos 11:8; BDB 485 s.v. 1; HALOT 482 s.v. כמר 1). Cf. NRSV “my compassion grows warm and tender.”
93 tn The words “like a son” are not in the Hebrew text, but are necessary to clarify what sort of love is intended (cf. also NLT).
94 tc The MT reads בְנִי (vÿni, “My son”); however, the LXX reflects בָנָיו (vanav, “his sons”). The MT should be retained as original here because of internal evidence; it is much more appropriate to the context.
95 tn Heb “her sons.” English versions have long translated this as “children,” however; cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT.
96 tn Heb “sons of adulteries”; KJV “children of whoredoms.”
97 tn Heb “Plead with your mother, plead!” The imperative רִיבוּ (rivu, “plead!”) is repeated twice in this line for emphasis. This rhetorical expression is handled in a woodenly literal sense by most English translations: NASB “Contend…contend”; NAB “Protest…protest!”; NIV “Rebuke…rebuke”; NRSV “Plead…plead”; CEV “Accuse! Accuse your mother!”
98 sn The suffix on the noun אִמְּכֶם (’immékhem, “your mother”) is a plural form (2nd person masculine). The children of Gomer represent the “children” (i.e., people) of Israel; Gomer represents the nation as a whole.
99 tn The particle כִּי (ki) introduces a parenthetical explanatory clause (however, cf. NCV “because”).
100 tn The dependent volitive sequence of imperative followed by vav + jussive (רִיבוּ, rivu followed by וְתָסֵר, vétaser) creates a purpose clause: “so that she might turn away from” (= “put an end to”); cf. NRSV “that she put away”; KJV “let her therefore put away.” Many English translations begin a new sentence here, presumably to improve the English style (so NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT), but this obscures the connection with the preceding clause.
101 tn Heb “put away her adulteries from her face.” The plural noun זְנוּנֶיהָ (zénuneha, “adulteries”) is an example of the plural of repeated (or habitual) action: she has had multiple adulterous affairs.
102 tn Heb “[put away] her immoral behavior from between her breasts.” Cf. KJV “her adulteries”; NIV “the unfaithfulness.”
103 tn Heb “Go again! Love!” Cf. NAB “Give your love to.”
104 tn Heb “a woman.” The probable referent is Gomer. Some English translations (e.g., NIV, NLT) specify the referent as “your wife.”
105 tc The MT vocalizes אֲהֻבַת (’ahuvat) as a construct form of the Qal passive participle and takes רֵעַ (rea’) as a genitive of agent: “who is loved by רֵעַ.” However, the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all vocalize אֲהֻבַת as an absolute form of the Qal active participle, and take רֵעַ as the accusative direct object: “who loves רֵעַ.” The English translations consistently follow the MT. The editors of BHS suggest the revocalization but with some reservation. For discussion of the vocalization, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:230.
106 tn The meaning of the noun רֵעַ (rea’) is debated because it has a broad range of meanings: (1) “friend,” (2) “lover,” (3) “companion,” (4) “neighbor,” and (5) “another” (HALOT 1253-55 s.v. II רֵעַ; BDB 945-46 s.v. II רֵעַ). The Hebrew lexicons favor the nuance “lover; paramour” here (HALOT 1255 s.v. 2; BDB 946 s.v. 1). Most scholars adopt the same approach; however, a few suggest that רֵעַ does not refer to another man, but to her husband (Hosea). Both approaches are reflected in English translations: NASB “a woman who is loved by her husband”; NIV “though she is loved by another”; NAB “a woman beloved of a paramour”; KJV “a woman beloved of her friend”; NJPS “a woman who, while befriended by a companion”; TEV “a woman who is committing adultery with a lover”; CEV “an unfaithful woman who has a lover.”
107 tn Heb “love a woman who is loved of a lover and is an adulteress.”
108 tn Heb “like the love of the
109 tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB “people of Israel.”
110 tn Heb “they are lovers of cakes of raisins.” A number of English translations render this literally (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).