Genesis 32:24-26

32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man ¹  wrestled ²  with him until daybreak. ³  32:25 When the man ⁴  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ⁵  he struck ⁶  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then the man ⁷  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ⁸  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ⁹  “unless you bless me.” ¹⁰ 

[32:24]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”

[32:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.