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Genesis 32:23-33
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Genesis 32:23-33
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
23 That night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 24 After he got them and brought them across the wadi and brought over what belonged to him, 25 Jacob was left there alone. Then a man[a] wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 26 When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that Jacob’s socket was dislocated as he wrestled with him.(A) 27 The man then said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” 28 “What is your name?” the man asked. He answered, “Jacob.”(B) 29 Then the man said, “You shall no longer be named Jacob, but Israel,[b] because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed.” 30 Jacob then asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He answered, “Why do you ask for my name?” With that, he blessed him. 31 Jacob named the place Peniel,[c] “because I have seen God face to face,” he said, “yet my life has been spared.”(C)
32 At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. 33 That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, because he had struck Jacob’s hip socket at the sciatic muscle.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 32:25 A man: as with Abraham’s three visitors in chap. 18, who appear sometimes as three, two, and one (the latter being God), this figure is fluid; he loses the match but changes Jacob’s name (v. 29), an act elsewhere done only by God (17:5, 15). A few deft narrative touches manage to express intimate contact with Jacob while preserving the transcendence proper to divinity.
- 32:29 Israel: the first part of the Hebrew name Yisrael is given a popular explanation in the word saritha, “you contended”; the second part is the first syllable of ’elohim, “divine beings.” The present incident, with a similar allusion to the name Israel, is referred to in Hos 12:5, where the mysterious wrestler is explicitly called an angel.
- 32:31 Peniel: a variant of the word Penuel (v. 32), the name of a town on the north bank of the Jabbok in Gilead (Jgs 8:8–9, 17; 1 Kgs 12:25). The name is explained as meaning “the face of God,” peni-’el. Yet my life has been spared: see note on 16:13.
Genesis 32:23-32
New International Version
Genesis 32:23-32
New International Version
23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.(A) 24 So Jacob was left alone,(B) and a man(C) wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip(D) so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 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.”(E)
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,”(F) he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name(G) will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[a](H) because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”(I)
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”(J)
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”(K) Then he blessed(L) him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[b] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face,(M) and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,[c](N) and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip,(O) because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
Footnotes
- Genesis 32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God.
- Genesis 32:30 Peniel means face of God.
- Genesis 32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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