the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Hebrew Names Version
Genesis 32
1 Ya`akov went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When he saw them, Ya`akov said, "This is God's host." He called the name of that place Machanayim.
3 Ya`akov sent messengers in front of him to Esav, his brother, to the land of Se`ir, the field of Edom. 4 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esav: 'This is what your servant, Ya`akov, says. I have sojourned with Lavan, and stayed until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, men-servants, and maid-servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'" 6 The messengers returned to Ya`akov, saying, "We came to your brother Esav. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him." 7 Then Ya`akov was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies; 8 and he said, "If Esav comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape."
9 Ya`akov said, "God of my father Avraham, and God of my father Yitzchak, the LORD, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good.' 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Yarden; and now I have become two companies. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. 12 You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'"
13 He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esav, his brother: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals. 16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd." 17 He commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esav, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?' 18 Then you shall say, 'They are your servant, Ya`akov's. It is a present sent to my lord, Esav. Behold, he also is behind us.'" 19 He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esav, when you find him. 20 You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant, Ya`akov, is behind us.'" For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me." 21 So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the camp. 22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Yabbok. 23 He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
24 Ya`akov was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 25 When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Ya`akov's thigh was strained, as he wrestled. 26 The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Ya`akov said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me." 27 He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Ya`akov." 28 He said, "Your name will no longer be called 'Ya`akov,' but, 'Yisra'el,' for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29 Ya`akov asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there. 30 Ya`akov called the name of the place Peni'el: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 31 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peni'el, and he limped because of his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Yisra'el don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Ya`akov's thigh in the sinew of the hip.
