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Genesis 32:28
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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."
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won."
And He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."
Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed."
Then said he, Thy name shalbe called Iaakob no more, but Israel: because thou hast had power wt God, thou shalt also preuaile wt men.
Then He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."
The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That's why your name will be Israel."
The man asked, "What is your name?" and he answered, "Ya‘akov."
And he said, Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed.
Then the man said, "Your name will not be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel. I give you this name because you have fought with God and with men, and you have won."
Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."
And he said to him. Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel (the Prince of God); for you have proved your strength wrestling with an angel and with man, and have prevailed.
The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel."
“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”
And He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with men, and have prevailed.
He sayde: Thou shalt nomore be called Iacob, but Israel, for thou hast stryuen with God and with men, and hast preuayled.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
He sayde: thy name shalbe called no more Iacob, but Israel: For as a prince hast thou wrasteled with God, and with men, and hast preuayled.
And he said unto him: 'What is thy name?' And be said: 'Jacob.'
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Iacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast preuailed.
And he said to him, Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; for thou hast prevailed with God, and shalt be mighty with men.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed."
And the man seide, Thi name schal no more be clepid Jacob, but Israel; for if thou were strong ayens God, hou miche more schalt thou haue power ayens men.
And he saith, `Thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast been a prince with God and with men, and dost prevail.'
And he said, Your name will not be Jacob anymore, but Israel: for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast prevailed.
He said, "Your name will no longer be called 'Jacob,' but, 'Israel,' for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed."
And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; [fn] for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
"Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won."
And the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel. For you have fought with God and with men, and have won."
Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed."
Then he said - Not Jacob, shall thy name be called any more, but Israel, - For thou hast contended with God and with men and hast prevailed.
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?
Then he said, "Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed."
The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."
He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Thy name: Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:15, Genesis 33:20, Genesis 35:10, Numbers 13:16, 2 Samuel 12:25, 2 Kings 17:34, Isaiah 62:2-4, Isaiah 65:15, John 1:42, Revelation 2:17
Israel: i.e. a prince of God
as a prince: Or, according to the LXX, Vulgate, Houbigant, Dathe, and Rosenmuller, "because thou hast power with God, thou shalt also prevail with men." There is a beautiful antithesis between the two terms, with ×××××, Elohim, God, the Almighty, with ×× ×©ï¯××, anashim, weak, feeble men, as the word imports; seeing thou hast had power with the Almighty, surely thou shalt prevail over perishing mortals.
power: Genesis 32:24, Hosea 12:3-5
with men: Genesis 25:31, Genesis 27:33-36, Genesis 31:24, Genesis 31:36-55, Genesis 33:4, 1 Samuel 26:25, Proverbs 16:7
Reciprocal: Genesis 27:36 - Jacob Genesis 48:16 - my name Exodus 2:24 - remembered Exodus 34:23 - the God Judges 18:29 - who was 2 Samuel 17:14 - the Lord 1 Kings 18:31 - saying 1 Kings 18:37 - Hear me 2 Kings 19:15 - O Lord God 1 Chronicles 1:34 - Israel 1 Chronicles 2:1 - Israel 1 Chronicles 4:10 - the God 1 Chronicles 6:38 - Israel 1 Chronicles 16:4 - the Lord God 1 Chronicles 29:10 - Lord God Ezra 6:6 - be ye far Ezra 7:6 - according to Ezra 7:28 - extended Nehemiah 1:11 - grant Nehemiah 2:8 - the king Nehemiah 4:9 - Nevertheless Esther 5:2 - she Job 31:37 - as a Psalms 9:19 - let not Psalms 22:4 - General Psalms 77:2 - In the Proverbs 18:10 - the righteous Isaiah 48:1 - which are Jeremiah 2:21 - wholly Jeremiah 9:4 - every brother Jeremiah 20:3 - hath Daniel 1:9 - General Hosea 11:12 - ruleth Hosea 12:12 - Israel Malachi 1:2 - yet I Matthew 15:31 - God John 1:18 - he hath Romans 9:4 - are Israelites James 5:16 - The effectual
Cross-References
No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations.
Then God said to Abraham, "As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name.
But Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him, "Be careful that you neither bless nor curse Jacob."
When Jacob saw them, he exclaimed, "This is the camp of God!" So he named that place Mahanaim.
Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region of Edom.
He commanded them, "This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.
I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.'"
So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel,.... That is, not Jacob only, but Israel also, as Ben Melech interprets it, or the one as well as the other; or the one rather and more frequently than the other: for certain it is, that he is often after this called Jacob, and his posterity also the seed of Jacob, though more commonly Israel, and Israelites:
for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed: this is given as a reason of his name Israel, which signifies a prince of God, or one who as a prince prevails with God; which confutes all other etymologies of the name, as the upright one of God, the man that sees God, or any other: he now prevailed with God in prayer, and by faith got the blessing, as he had prevailed before with Esau and Laban, and got the better of them, and so would again of the former: hence some render the word, "and shall prevail" i; and indeed this transaction was designed to fortify Jacob against the fear of his brother Esau; and from whence he might reasonably conclude, that if he had power with God, and prevailed to obtain what he desired of him, he would much more be able to prevail over his brother, and even over all that should rise up against him, and oppose him; and this may not only be prophetic of what should hereafter be fulfilled in the person of Jacob, but in his posterity in future times, who should prevail over their enemies, and enjoy all good things by the favour of God: for it may be rendered, "thou hast behaved like a prince with God, and with men", or, "over men thou shalt prevail".
i ת××× "praevalebis", V. L. Î´Ï Î½Î±Ïο εÏη Sept. so the Targum of Onkelos.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Jacob Wrestles in Prayer
3. ××× ×× machaÌnaÌyıÌm, Machanaim, âtwo camps.â
22. ××ק yaboq, Jabboq; related: ×קק baÌqaq âgush or gurgle outâ or ××ק 'aÌbaq in niphal, âwrestle.â Now Wady Zurka.
29. ×ש×ר×× yıÌsÌraÌ'eÌl, Jisrael, âprince of God.â
31. ×¤× ××× penıÌy'eÌl = ×¤× ×Ö¼×× penuÌ'eÌl, Peniel, Penuel, âface of God.â
After twenty years spent in Aram, Jacob now returns to Kenann. As his departure was marked by a great moment in his spiritual life, so he is now approaching to a crisis in his life of no less significance
Genesis 32:1-3
Jacob has a vision of the heavenly host. This passage, recording Labanâs farewell and departure, closes the connection of Jacob with Haran and all its toils of servitude, and is hence, annexed to the previous chapter in the English version. In the distribution of the original text, it is regarded as the counterpart of the two following verses, in which Jacobâs onward progress is mentioned, and so placed with them at the beginning of a new chapter. âThe angels of God met him.â Twenty years ago Jacob saw the mystical ladder connecting heaven and earth, and the angels of God thereupon ascending and descending from the one to the other. Now, in circumstances of danger, he sees the angels of God on earth, encamped beside or around his own camp Psalms 34:8. He recognizes them as Godâs camp, and names the place Mahanaim, from the double encampment. This vision is not dwelt upon, as it is the mere sequel of the former scene at Bethel. Mahanaim has been identified with Mahneh, about eight miles from the cairn of Laban and Jacob.
Genesis 32:4-9
Jacob now sends a message to Esau apprising him of his arrival. Unto the land of Seir. Arabia Petraea, with which Esau became connected by his marriage with a daughter of Ishmael. He was now married 56 years to his first two wives, and 20 to his last, and therefore, had a separate and extensive establishment of children and grandchildren. Jacob endeavors to make amends for the past by an humble and respectful approach to his older brother, in which he styles himself, âthy servantâ and Esau, âmy lord.â He informs him of his wealth, to intimate that he did not expect anything from him. âFour hundred men with him.â This was a formidable force. Esau had begun to live by the sword Genesis 27:40, and had surrounded himself with a numerous body of followers. Associated by marriage with the Hittites and the Ishmaelites, he had rapidly risen to the rank of a powerful chieftain. It is vain to conjecture with what intent Esau advanced at the head of so large a retinue. It is probable that he was accustomed to a strong escort, that he wished to make an imposing appearance before his brother, and that his mind was in that wavering state, when the slightest incident might soothe him into good-will, or arouse him to vengeance. Jacob, remembering his own former dealings with him, has good cause for alarm. He betakes himself to the means of deliverance. He disposes of his horde into two camps, that if one were attacked and captured, the other might meanwhile escape. He never neglects to take all the precautions in his power.
Genesis 32:10-13
Next, he betakes himself to prayer. He appeals to the God of Abraham and Isaac, to Yahweh the God of promise and performance. âI am less than;â unworthy of all the mercy and truth of God. âWith my staff.â Jacob seems to have left his home without escort and without means. It was evidently intended that he should return in a short time; but unforeseen circumstances lengthened the period. âMe, the mother with the children.â Me is used here in that pregnant sense which is familiar in Scripture, to include his whole clan; as Ishmael, Israel, Edom, often stand for their respective races. He then pleads the express promise of God Genesis 28:13-15; Genesis 31:3.
Genesis 32:14-22
Jacob sends forward a present to Esau. âHe lodged there that night.â Mahanaim may have been about twenty-five miles from the Jabbok. At some point in the interval he awaited the return of his messengers. Abiding during the night in the camp, not far from the ford of the Jabbok, he selects and sends forward to Esau his valuable present of five hundred and fifty head of cattle. âThat which was come into his hand,â into his possession. The cattle are selected according to the proportions of male and female which were adopted from experience among the ancients (Varro, de re rust. II. 3). âEvery drove by itself,â with a space between, that Esau might have time to estimate the great value of the gift. The repetition of the announcement of the gift, and of Jacob himself being at hand, was calculated to appease Esau, and persuade him that Jacob was approaching him in all brotherly confidence and affection. âAppease him.â Jacob designs this gift to be the means of propitiating his brother before he appears in his presence. âLift up my face,â accept me. âLodged that night in the camp;â after sending this present over the Jabbok. This seems the same night referred to in Genesis 32:14.
Genesis 32:23-32
Jacob wrestles with a man. âPassed over the ford of Jabbok.â The Jabbok rose near Rabbath Ammon, and flowed into the Jordan, separating North Gilead from South, or the kingdom of Og from that of Sihon. âJacob was left alone,â on the north side, after all had passed over. âA man wrestled with him.â When God has a new thing of a spiritual nature to bring into the experience of man, he begins with the senses. He takes man on the ground on which he finds him, and leads him through the senses to the higher things of reason, conscience, and communion with God.
Jacob seems to have gone through the principles or foundations of faith in God and repentance toward him, which gave a character to the history of his grandfather and father, and to have entered upon the stage of spontaneous action. He had that inward feeling of spiritual power which prompted the apostle to say, âI can do all things.â Hence, we find him dealing with Esau for the birthright, plotting with his mother for the blessing, erecting a pillar and vowing a vow at Bethel, overcoming Laban with his own weapons, and even now taking the most prudent measures for securing a welcome from Esau on his return. He relied indeed on God, as was demonstrated in many of his words and deeds; but the prominent feature of his character was a strong and firm reliance on himself. But this practical self-reliance, though naturally springing up in the new man and highly commendable in itself, was not yet in Jacob duly subordinated to that absolute reliance which ought to be placed in the Author of our being and our salvation. Hence, he had been betrayed into intrusive, dubious, and even sinister courses, which in the retributive providence of God had brought, and were yet to bring him, into many troubles and perplexities. The hazard of his present situation arose chiefly from his former unjustifiable practices toward his brother. He is now to learn the lesson of unreserved reliance on God.
âA manâ appeared to him in his loneliness; one having the bodily form and substance of a man. Wrestled with him - encountered him in the very point in which he was strong. He had been a taker by the heel from his very birth, and his subsequent life had been a constant and successful struggle with adversaries. And when he, the stranger, saw that he prevailed not over him. Jacob, true to his character, struggles while life remains, with this new combatant. touched the socket of his thigh, so that it was wrenched out of joint. The thigh is the pillar of a manâs strength, and its joint with the hip the seat of physical force for the wrestler. Let the thigh bone be thrown out of joint, and the man is utterly disabled. Jacob now finds that this mysterious wrestler has wrested from him, by one touch, all his might, and he can no longer stand alone. Without any support whatever from himself, he hangs upon the conqueror, and in that condition learns by experience the practice of sole reliance on one mightier than himself. This is the turning-point in this strange drama. Henceforth Jacob now feels himself strong, not in himself, but in the Lord, and in the power of his might. What follows is merely the explication and the consequence of this bodily conflict.
And he, the Mighty Stranger, said, Let me go, for the dawn ariseth. The time for other avocations is come: let me go. He does not shake off the clinging grasp of the now disabled Jacob, but only calls upon him to relax his grasp. âAnd he, Jacob, said, I will not let thee go except thou bless meâ. Despairing now of his own strength, he is Jacob still: he declares his determination to cling on until his conqueror bless him. He now knows he is in the hand of a higher power, who can disable and again enable, who can curse and also bless. He knows himself also to be now utterly helpless without the healing, quickening, protecting power of his victor, and, though he die in the effort, he will not let him go without receiving this blessing. Jacobâs sense of his total debility and utter defeat is now the secret of his power with his friendly vanquisher. He can overthrow all the prowess of the self-reliant, but he cannot resist the earnest entreaty of the helpless.
Genesis 32:28-30
âWhat is thy name?â He reminds him of his former self, Jacob, the supplanter, the self-reliant, self-seeking. But now he is disabled, dependent on another, and seeking a blessing from another, and for all others as well as himself. No more Jacob shall thy name be called, but Israel - a prince of God, in God, with God. In a personal conflict, depending on thyself, thou wert no match for God. But in prayer, depending on another, thou hast prevailed with God and with men. The new name is indicative of the new nature which has now come to its perfection of development in Jacob. Unlike Abraham, who received his new name once for all, and was never afterward called by the former one, Jacob will hence, be called now by the one and now by the other, as the occasion may serve. For he was called from the womb Genesis 25:23, and both names have a spiritual significance for two different aspects of the child of God, according to the apostleâs paradox, âWork out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasureâ Philippians 2:12-13. âTell now thy name.â
Disclose to me thy nature. This mysterious Being intimates by his reply that Jacob was to learn his nature, so far as he yet required to know it, from the event that had just occurred; and he was well acquainted with his name. And he blessed him there. He had the power of disabling the self-sufficient creature, of upholding that creature when unable to stand, of answering prayer, of conferring a new name, with a new phase of spiritual life, and of blessing with a physical renovation, and with spiritual capacity for being a blessing to mankind. After all this, Jacob could not any longer doubt who he was. There are, then, three acts in this dramatic scene: first, Jacob wrestling with the Omnipresent in the form of a man, in which he is signally defeated; second, Jacob importunately supplicating Yahweh, in which he prevails as a prince of God; third, Jacob receiving the blessing of a new name, a new development of spiritual life, and a new capacity for bodily action.
Genesis 32:31-32
Peniel - the face of God. The reason of this name is assigned in the sentence, âI have seen God face to face.â He is at first called a man. Hosea terms him the angel (Hosea 12:4-5 (3, 4). And here Jacob names him God. Hence, some men, deeply penetrated with the ineffable grandeur of the divine nature, are disposed to resolve the first act at least into an impression on the imagination. We do not pretend to define with undue nicety the mode of this wrestling. And we are far from saying that every sentence of Scripture is to be understood in a literal sense. But until some cogent reason be assigned, we do not feel at liberty to depart from the literal sense in this instance. The whole theory of a revelation from God to man is founded upon the principle that God can adapt himself to the apprehension of the being whom he has made in his own image. This principle we accept, and we dare not limit its application âfurther than the demonstrative laws of reason and conscience demand.â If God walk in the garden with Adam, expostulate with Cain, give a specification of the ark to Noah, partake of the hospitality of Abraham, take Lot by the hand to deliver him from Sodom, we cannot affirm that he may not, for a worthy end, enter into a bodily conflict with Jacob. These various manifestations of God to man differ only in degree. If we admit anyone, we are bound by parity of reason to accept all the others.
We have also already noted the divine method of dealing with man. He proceeds from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex, from the material to the spiritual, from the sensible to the super-sensible. So must he do, until he have to deal with a world of philosophers. And even then, and only then, will his method of teaching and dealing with people be clearly and fully understood. The more we advance in the philosophy of spiritual things, the more delight will we feel in discerning the marvelous analogy and intimate nearness of the outward to the inward, and the material to the spiritual world. We have only to bear in mind that in man there is a spirit as well as a body; and in this outward wrestling of man with man we have a token of the inward wrestling of spirit with spirit, and therefore, an experimental instance of that great conflict of the Infinite Being with the finite self, which grace has introduced into our fallen world, recorded here for the spiritual edification of the church on earth.
âMy life is preserved.â The feeling of conscience is, that no sinner can see the infinitely holy God and live. âAnd he halted upon his thigh.â The wrenching of the tendons and muscles was mercifully healed, so as to leave a permanent monument, in Jacobâs halting gait, that God had overcome his self-will.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 32:28. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel — ×שר×× Yisrael, from שר sar, a prince, or ×©×¨× sarah, he ruled as a prince, and ×× el, God; or rather from ××ש ish, a man, (the × aleph being dropped,) and ר×× raah, he saw, ×× el, God; and this corresponds with the name which Jacob imposed on the place, calling it ×¤× ××× peniel, the faces of God, or of Elohim, which faces being manifested to him caused him to say, Genesis 32:30, ר×××ª× ××××× ×¤× ×× ×× ×¤× ×× raithi Elohim panim el panim, i.e., "I have seen the Elohim faces to faces, (i.e., fully and completely, without any medium), ××ª× ×¦× × ×¤×©× vattinnatsel napshi, and my soul is redeemed."
We may learn from this that the redemption of the soul will be the blessed consequence of wrestling by prayer and supplication with God: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." From this time Jacob became a new man; but it was not till after a severe struggle that he got his name, his heart, and his character changed. After this he was no more Jacob the supplanter, but Israel - the man who prevails with God, and sees him face to face.
And hast prevailed. — More literally, Thou hast had power with God, and with man thou shalt also prevail. ×¢× ××××× Im Elohim, with the strong God; ×¢× ×× ×©×× im anashim, with weak, feeble man. There is a beautiful opposition here between the two words: Seeing thou hast been powerful with the Almighty, surely thou shalt prevail over perishing mortals; as thou hast prevailed with God, thou shalt also prevail with men: God calling the things that were not as though they had already taken place, because the prevalency of this people, the Israelites, by means of the Messiah, who should proceed from them, was already determined in the Divine counsel. He has never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain. He who wrestles must prevail.
