Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau
In Hebrew texts 32:1-32 is numbered 32:2-33. 1Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.32:2 Mahanaim means two camps.
3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’ ”
6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
7In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,32:7 Or camps and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,32:8 Or camp the group32:8 Or camp that is left may escape.”
9Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”
13He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
17He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”
19He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.
Jacob Wrestles With God
22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God. because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30So Jacob called the place Peniel,32:30 Peniel means face of God. saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
雅各預備見以掃
1雅各繼續前行，上帝的天使遇見了他。 2雅各看見他們，就說：「這是上帝的軍隊！」於是稱那地方為瑪哈念32·2 「瑪哈念」意思是「兩營軍隊」。。
3雅各先派使者到西珥，就是以東地區，去見他哥哥以掃， 4並吩咐他們：「你們要這樣對我主以掃說，『你僕人雅各說他一直寄居在拉班家裡， 5現在他帶了牛羊、驢和僕婢回來見我主，派我們來報信，希望在你面前蒙恩。』」
6報信的人回到雅各那裡，說：「我們到了你哥哥以掃那裡，他正帶著四百人前來見你。」 7雅各聽了非常害怕，憂心忡忡，便把隨從、牛群、羊群和駱駝分成兩隊， 8心想：「如果以掃來攻擊一隊，另一隊還可以逃生。」
9他禱告說：「耶和華，我祖父亞伯拉罕和我父親以撒的上帝啊！你吩咐我回到家鄉和親族那裡，答應厚待我。 10我不配蒙你以慈愛和信實相待，我先前過約旦河的時候，手上只有一根杖，現在卻有兩隊人畜。 11求你救我脫離我哥哥以掃的手，我怕他會來殺我和我的妻兒。 12然而，你曾說，『我必厚待你，使你的後代多如海沙，不可勝數。』」
13那天晚上，雅各就在那裡過夜，又從產業中挑選牲畜送給哥哥以掃作禮物： 14母山羊二百隻、公山羊二十隻、母綿羊二百隻、公綿羊二十隻、 15哺乳的駱駝三十頭及其小駱駝、母牛四十頭、公牛十頭、母驢二十頭、公驢十頭。 16雅各把牲畜每類分成一群，交給僕人看管，對他們說：「你們走在前頭，每群牲畜之間要保持一段距離！」 17又吩咐走在最前面的僕人說：「我哥哥以掃遇到你的時候，如果問你是誰家的人？要到哪裡去？你前頭這些牲畜是誰的？ 18你就說，『是你僕人雅各的，是送給他主人以掃的禮物，他自己就在後面。』」 19雅各又吩咐趕第二群、第三群及其餘牲畜的僕人遇見以掃時也要這樣回答， 20並且一定要說：「你僕人雅各就在後面。」雅各想先用禮物去化解以掃的怨恨，也許見面時以掃會善待他。 21於是，他派人先把禮物送過去，自己則留在營裡過夜。
雅各遇見上帝
22當夜，雅各起來帶著兩個妻子、兩個婢女和十一個兒子渡過雅博渡口。 23雅各把他們連同一切所有都送過河以後， 24自己獨自留下。有一個人來和他摔跤，直到黎明。 25那人見勝不過雅各，就在他的大腿窩摸了一下，他大腿的關節就脫臼了。 26那人說：「天亮了，讓我走吧！」但雅各說：「你不祝福我，我就不讓你走。」 27那人問道：「你叫什麼名字？」他說：「我叫雅各。」 28那人說：「你以後不要再叫雅各了，你要叫以色列，因為你跟上帝和人角力都得勝了。」
29雅各說：「請你告訴我你的名字。」那人說：「你為什麼問我的名字？」他就在那裡給雅各祝福。 30雅各稱那地方為毗努伊勒，因為他說：「我面對面見過上帝，竟能活命。」 31雅各經過毗努伊勒的時候，太陽出來了，那時他的大腿瘸了。 32以色列人至今都不吃大腿窩的筋，因為那人摸過雅各大腿窩的筋。
