Gênesis 32

ARC · Chapter 32/50

1E foi tambem Jacob o seu caminho, e encontraram-o os anjos de Deus.

2E Jacob disse, quando os viu: Este é o exercito de Deus. E chamou o nome d'aquelle logar Mahanaim.

3E enviou Jacob mensageiros diante da sua face a Esaú seu irmão, á terra de Seir, territorio de Edom.

4E ordenou-lhes, dizendo: Assim direis a meu senhor Esaú: Assim diz Jacob, teu servo: Como peregrino morei com Labão, e me detive lá até agora;

5E tenho bois e jumentos, ovelhas, e servos e servas; e enviei para o annunciar a meu senhor, para que ache graça em teus olhos.

6E os mensageiros tornaram a Jacob, dizendo: Viemos a teu irmão Esaú; e tambem elle vem a encontrar-te, e quatrocentos varões com elle.

7Então Jacob temeu muito, e angustiou-se; e repartiu o povo que com elle estava, e as ovelhas, e as vaccas, e os camelos, em dois bandos.

8Porque dizia: Se Esaú vier a um bando, e o ferir, o outro bando escapará.

9Disse mais Jacob: Deus de meu pae Abrahão, e Deus de meu pae Isaac, o Senhor, que me disseste: Torna-te á tua terra, e á tua parentela, e far-te-hei bem;

10Menor sou eu que todas as beneficencias, e que toda a fidelidade que fizeste ao teu servo; porque com meu cajado passei este Jordão, e agora me tornei em dois bandos;

11Livra-me, peço-te, da mão de meu irmão, da mão de Esaú: porque o temo, que porventura não venha, e me fira, e a mãe com os filhos

12E tu o disseste: Certamente te farei bem, e farei a tua semente como a areia do mar, que pela multidão não se pode contar.

13E passou ali aquella noite; e tomou do que lhe veiu á sua mão, um presente para seu irmão Esaú:

14Duzentas cabras, e vinte bodes; duzentas ovelhas, e vinte carneiros;

15Trinta camelas de leite com suas crias, quarenta vaccas, e dez novilhos; vinte jumentas, e dez jumentinhos;

16E deu-o na mão dos seus servos, cada rebanho á parte, e disse a seus servos: Passae adiante da minha face, e ponde espaço entre rebanho e rebanho.

17E ordenou ao primeiro, dizendo: Quando Esaú, meu irmão, te encontrar, e te perguntar, dizendo: De quem és, e para onde vaes, e cujos são estes diante da tua face,

18Então dirás: São de teu servo Jacob, presente que envia a meu senhor, a Esaú; e eis que elle mesmo vem tambem atraz de nós

19E ordenou tambem ao segundo, e ao terceiro, e a todos os que vinham atraz dos rebanhos, dizendo: Conforme a esta mesma palavra, fallareis a Esaú, quando o achardes.

20E direis tambem: Eis que o teu servo Jacob vem atraz de nós. Porque dizia: Eu o aplacarei com o presente, que vae diante de mim, e depois verei a sua face; porventura acceitará a minha face.

21Assim passou o presente diante da sua face; elle porém passou aquella noite no arraial.

22E levantou-se aquella mesma noite, e tomou as suas duas mulheres, e as suas duas servas, e os seus onze filhos, e passou o váo de Jabbok.

23E tomou-os, e fel-os passar o ribeiro; e fez passar tudo o que tinha.

24Jacob porém ficou só; e luctou com elle um varão, até que a alva subia.

25E vendo que não prevalecia contra elle, tocou a juntura de sua côxa, e se deslocou a juntura da côxa de Jacob, luctando com elle.

26E disse: Deixa-me ir, porque já a alva subiu. Porém elle disse: Não te deixarei ir, se me não abençoares.

27E disse-lhe: Qual é o teu nome? E elle disse: Jacob.

28Então disse: Não se chamará mais o teu nome Jacob, mas Israel: pois como principe luctaste com Deus, e com os homens, e prevaleceste.

29E Jacob lhe perguntou, e disse: Dá-me, peço-te, a saber o teu nome. E disse: Porque perguntas pelo meu nome? E abençoou-o ali.

30E chamou Jacob o nome d'aquelle logar Peniel, porque dizia: Tenho visto a Deus face a face, e a minha alma foi salva.

31E saiu-lhe o sol, quando passou a Penuel; e manquejava da sua côxa.

32Por isso os filhos de Israel não comem o nervo encolhido, que está sobre a juntura da côxa, até o dia de hoje; porquanto tocara a juntura da côxa de Jacob no nervo encolhido.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Before reuniting with his brother Esau, Jacob sends gifts ahead to appease him and, alone at night, wrestles with a mysterious man until daybreak, receiving the new name Israel.

Explanation

This chapter narrates one of the most symbolic moments of Jacob's life: fearing Esau's revenge for the deception decades earlier, Jacob strategically prepares with generous gifts, but also prays fervently, acknowledging his own smallness before God's faithfulness. The night before the meeting, he wrestles alone with a mysterious figure (traditionally identified as an angel or a manifestation of God), refusing to let go until he receives a blessing, even though his hip is dislocated in the struggle. This physical and spiritual encounter results in a change of name, from Jacob ('deceiver' or 'heel-grabber') to Israel ('he who wrestles with God'), marking a transformation of character built on decades of spiritual growth. Today's lesson is that facing our deepest struggles with perseverance before God can result in genuine transformation, even if it leaves visible marks.

Fun facts

  • The name 'Israel' would become, from this point on, the name of the entire nation descended from Jacob, used hundreds of times throughout the Old Testament — this chapter is literally the origin of the chosen people's name.
  • The Jewish tradition of not eating the 'sinew that shrank' in the hip of animals (v. 32) is still observed today in kosher dietary laws, a practice that traces directly and continuously back to this specific event in the book of Genesis.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Gênesis 32:1Right after parting from Laban in peace, Jacob has a supernatural encounter with angels — a sign of protection right along the way, shortly before the tense reunion still to come with Esau.
  2. Gênesis 32:2Jacob sees the angels and says, “This is God’s host,” which is why he names the place Mahanaim, meaning something like “two camps” or “two armies.” The idea is that the company of angels and Jacob’s own company form two camps side by side, a sign of protection right before the tense encounter with Esau.
  3. Gênesis 32:3Jacob sends messengers ahead to inform Esau of his arrival — an attempt to open contact before the direct meeting, after twenty years apart.
  4. Gênesis 32:4Jacob instructs the messengers to call Esau “my lord” and himself “thy servant” — a very humble tone, the opposite of the time the stolen blessing placed him as lord over his brother.
  5. Gênesis 32:5Jacob lists his own possessions just to show he is returning wealthy and needs nothing from Esau — the stated goal is simply to “find grace” in his sight.
  6. Gênesis 32:6The messengers return with the news that Esau is already coming to meet him, accompanied by four hundred men — a number large enough to sound like a military threat.
  7. Gênesis 32:7Gripped by fear, Jacob divides all his people and flocks into two separate bands — a practical survival strategy, not a gesture of faith.
  8. Gênesis 32:8Jacob’s reasoning is straightforward: if Esau attacks one band, the other still has a chance to escape.
  9. Gênesis 32:9Jacob prays, invoking the God of Abraham and of Isaac, recalling the very promise he received from God to return to his country and prosper.
  10. Gênesis 32:10Jacob acknowledges his own smallness before all he has already received: he crossed the Jordan with only a staff in hand and now returns wealthy enough to divide everything into two companies.
  11. Gênesis 32:11He asks specifically for deliverance from Esau’s hand, fearing an attack that would strike not only him, but the mothers and the children.
  12. Gênesis 32:12Jacob closes the prayer by reminding God of His own promise to multiply his descendants like the sand of the sea — using God’s word as the basis of the request.
  13. Gênesis 32:13From what he had on hand, Jacob sets apart a carefully calculated gift meant to soften Esau’s possible anger.
  14. Gênesis 32:14The list of two hundred female goats, twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams shows the scale of the gift — this is no small symbolic gesture, it is a fortune in animals.
  15. Gênesis 32:15Milk camels with their colts, cows, bulls, female donkeys, and foals complete the gift — a collection large enough to impress any clan chief of the time.
  16. Gênesis 32:16Jacob hands the droves over to his servants in separate groups, spaced apart — so Esau would receive wave after wave of gifts, instead of everything at once.
  17. Gênesis 32:17Jacob rehearses with the foremost servant exactly what to answer if Esau asks whose animals these are.
  18. Gênesis 32:18The prepared answer makes clear this is a gift from “thy servant Jacob’s” to “my lord Esau,” and warns that Jacob himself is coming right behind.
  19. Gênesis 32:19The same instruction is repeated to every servant following with the droves — the message needs to be identical to reinforce it with every group Esau meets.
  20. Gênesis 32:20Jacob explains his own strategy: appease his brother’s anger with the present that goes before him, hoping he will accept him “afterward.”
  21. Gênesis 32:21The gift goes ahead through the night, while Jacob stays behind, alone in the camp with all the anxiety of waiting.
  22. Gênesis 32:22Still at night, Jacob takes his two wives, his two womenservants, and his eleven sons across the ford of Jabbok — a river that marked the border of the region.
  23. Gênesis 32:23He makes sure everyone, and everything he owned, crosses the brook before him — staying alone on the other side, right before the night’s struggle begins.
  24. Gênesis 32:24The text calls this being only “a man,” without saying who he is — only later, in verse 30, does Jacob understand it had been a manifestation of God. It is described as a real, physical, hand-to-hand struggle that lasts the whole night without a clear winner.
  25. Gênesis 32:25Seeing that he could not prevail, the man touches “the hollow of his thigh” and puts the joint out of place — what would today be called a hip injury, where the femur meets the pelvis. This is the wound that explains why Jacob limps afterward and why his descendants avoided eating a certain sinew of the animal, as the next verse says.
  26. Gênesis 32:26The mysterious man asks to be released at daybreak, but Jacob refuses to let him go without first receiving a blessing — the same stubborn insistence he had already used to obtain his father’s blessing.
  27. Gênesis 32:27Asking Jacob’s name before blessing him carries weight: the old name carries the meaning of “deceiver,” exactly what is about to change in the next verse.
  28. Gênesis 32:28The new name, Israel, is formed from parts that echo the Hebrew words for “wrestle” and “God” — the reason is given in the verse itself, tied to this struggle. From here on, Jacob and his descendants also come to be called Israel.
  29. Gênesis 32:29Jacob asks the man’s name, but receives only a blessing in return, without an answer — the text deliberately leaves his identity a mystery.
  30. Gênesis 32:30Peniel means face of God. Jacob gives the place this name because, in his own words, he saw God face to face and his life was preserved — something that, in the mindset of the time, was thought impossible for an ordinary human being.
  31. Gênesis 32:31Jacob walks away limping as the sun rises — the night’s struggle leaves a permanent physical mark, concrete proof that the encounter really happened.
  32. Gênesis 32:32Because of this struggle, the children of Israel came to avoid eating “the sinew that shrank” in the hollow of the thigh of the animals they slaughtered — a specific dietary custom that, according to the text, was still followed at the time it was written. It is not one of the laws of Moses; it is an older custom, tied directly to this story of Jacob.

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