TraditionalCatholic.net · Old Testament 

The Book of Genesis

  Chapter 32  

32:1 Jacob also went on the journey he had begun: and the angels of God met him.

32:2 And when he saw them, he said: These are the camps of God, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, Camps.

32:3 And he sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, to the country of Edom:

32:4 And he commanded them, saying: Thus shall ye speak to my lord Esau: Thus saith thy brother Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have been with him until this day:

32:5 I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and womenservants: and now I send a message to my lord, that I may find favour in thy sight.

32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We came to Esau, thy brother, and behold he cometh with speed to meet thee with four hundred men.

32:7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid; and in his fear divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,

32:8 Saying: If Esau come to one company, and destroy it, the other company that is left, shall escape.

32:9 And Jacob said: O God of my fahter Abraham, and God of my father Isaac: O Lord who saidst to me, Return to thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I will do well for thee.

32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of thy truth which thou hast fulfilled to thy servant. With my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I return with two companies.

32:11 Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am greatly afraid of him; lest perhaps he come, and kill the mother with the children.

32:12 Thou didst say, that thou wouldst do well by me, and multiply my seed like the sand of the sea, which connot be numbered for multitude.

32:13 And when he had slept there that night, he set apart, of the things which he had, presents for his brother Esau,

32:14 Two hundred she goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

32:15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she asses, and ten of their foals.

32:16 And he sent them by the hands of his servants, every drove by itself, and he said to his servants: Go before me, and let there be a space between drove and drove.

32:17 And he commanded the first, saying: If thou meet my brother Esau, and he ask thee: Whose art thou? or whither goest thou? or whose are these before thee?

32:18 Thou shalt answer: Thy servant Jacob's: he hath sent them as a present to my lord Esau; and he cometh after us.

32:19 In like manner he commanded the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying: Speak ye the same words to Esau, when ye find him.

32:20 And ye shall add: Thy servant Jacob himself also followeth after us; for he said: I will appease him with the presents that go before, and afterwards I will see him, perhaps he will be gracious to me.

32:21 So the presents went before him, but himself lodged that night in the camp.

32:22 And rising early, he took his two wives and his two handmaids, with his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of Jaboc.

32:23 And when all things were brought over that belonged to him,

32:24 He remained alone; and behold, a man wrestled with him till morning.

32:25 And when he saw that he could not overcome him, he touched the sinew of his thigh, and forthwith it shrank.

32:26 And he said to him: Let me go, for it is break of day. He answered: I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

32:27 And he said: What is thy name? He answered: Jacob.

32:28 But he said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?

32:29 Jacob asked him: Tell me by what name art thou called? He answered: Why dost thou ask my name? And he blessed him in the same place.

32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel, saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.

32:31 And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he was past Phanuel; but he halted on his foot.

32:32 Therefore the children of Israel, unto this day, eat not the sinew, that shrank in Jacob's thigh: because he touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank.