Exodus 19:21

19:21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn ¹  the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. ² 

Exodus 33:20-23

33:20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can ³  see me and live.” ⁴  33:21 The Lord said, “Here ⁵  is a place by me; you will station yourself ⁶  on a rock. 33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover ⁷  you with my hand ⁸  while I pass by. ⁹  33:23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, ¹⁰  but my face must not be seen.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 32:24-32

32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man ¹²  wrestled ¹³  with him until daybreak. ¹⁴  32:25 When the man ¹⁵  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ¹⁶  he struck ¹⁷  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then the man ¹⁸  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ¹⁹  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ²⁰  “unless you bless me.” ²¹  32:27 The man asked him, ²²  “What is your name?” ²³  He answered, “Jacob.” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ²⁴  “but Israel, ²⁵  because you have fought ²⁶  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ²⁷  “Why ²⁸  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ²⁹  Then he blessed ³⁰  Jacob ³¹  there. 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, ³²  explaining, ³³  “Certainly ³⁴  I have seen God face to face ³⁵  and have survived.” ³⁶ 

32:31 The sun rose ³⁷  over him as he crossed over Penuel, ³⁸  but ³⁹  he was limping because of his hip. 32:32 That is why to this day ⁴⁰  the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck ⁴¹  the socket of Jacob’s hip near the attached sinew.

Deuteronomy 4:33

4:33 Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it?

Jude 1:22

1:22 And have mercy on those who waver;

[19:21]  ¹ tn The imperative הָעֵד (ha’ed) means “charge” them – put them under oath, or solemnly warn them. God wished to ensure that the people would not force their way past the barriers that had been set out.

[19:21]  ² tn Heb “and fall”; NAB “be struck down.”

[33:20]  ³ tn In view of the use of the verb “can, be able to” in the first clause, this imperfect tense is given a potential nuance.

[33:20]  ⁴ tn Gesenius notes that sometimes a negative statement takes the place of a conditional clause; here it is equal to “if a man sees me he does not live” (GKC 498 §159.gg). The other passages that teach this are Gen 32:30; Deut 4:33, 5:24, 26; Judg 6:22, 13:22, and Isa 6:5.

[33:21]  ⁵ tn The deictic particle is used here simply to call attention to a place of God’s knowing and choosing.

[33:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “and you will,” or interpretively, “where you will.”

[33:22]  ⁷ sn Note the use in Exod 40:3, “and you will screen the ark with the curtain.” The glory is covered, veiled from being seen.

[33:22]  ⁸ tn The circumstantial clause is simply, “my hand [being] over you.” This protecting hand of Yahweh represents a fairly common theme in the Bible.

[33:22]  ⁹ tn The construction has a preposition with an infinitive construct and a suffix: “while [or until] I pass by” (Heb “in the passing by of me”).

[33:23]  ¹⁰ tn The plural “my backs” is according to Gesenius an extension plural (compare “face,” a dual in Hebrew). The word denotes a locality in general, but that is composed of numerous parts (see GKC 397 §124.b). W. C. Kaiser says that since God is a spirit, the meaning of this word could just as easily be rendered “after effects” of his presence (“Exodus,” EBC 2:484). As S. R. Driver says, though, while this may indicate just the “afterglow” that he leaves behind him, it was enough to suggest what the full brilliancy of his presence must be (Exodus, 363; see also Job 26:14).

[33:23]  ¹¹ tn The Niphal imperfect could simply be rendered “will not be seen,” but given the emphasis of the preceding verses, it is more binding than that, and so a negated obligatory imperfect fits better: “it must not be seen.” It would also be possible to render it with a potential imperfect tense: “it cannot be seen.”

[32:24]  ¹² 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.

[32:24]  ¹³ 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.

[32:24]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”

[32:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ¹⁷ 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.

[32:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ²⁰ 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.

[32:26]  ²¹ 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.

[32:27]  ²² 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.

[32:27]  ²³ sn What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the Lord obviously knew Jacob’s identity. But since the Lord is going to change Jacob’s name, this question is designed to bring focus Jacob’s attention on all that his name had come to signify.

[32:28]  ²⁴ 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.

[32:28]  ²⁵ 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 Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ²⁶ 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).

[32:29]  ²⁷ 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.

[32:29]  ²⁸ tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ²⁹ 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.

[32:29]  ³⁰ tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ³¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:30]  ³² sn The name Peniel means “face of God.” Since Jacob saw God face to face here, the name is appropriate.

[32:30]  ³³ tn The word “explaining” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:30]  ³⁴ tn Or “because.”

[32:30]  ³⁵ sn I have seen God face to face. See the note on the name “Peniel” earlier in the verse.

[32:30]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and my soul [= life] has been preserved.”

[32:31]  ³⁷ tn Heb “shone.”

[32:31]  ³⁸ sn The name is spelled Penuel here, apparently a variant spelling of Peniel (see v. 30).

[32:31]  ³⁹ tn The disjunctive clause draws attention to an important fact: He may have crossed the stream, but he was limping.

[32:32]  ⁴⁰ 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.

[32:32]  ⁴¹ 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.