Barashyt(Genesis) — 32

1 As Ya'aqub started on his way again, the Malak of 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH came to meet him. 

2 When Ya'aqub saw them, he exclaimed, “This is 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH’s camp!” So he named the place Mahanaim.

3 Then Ya'aqub sent messengers ahead to his brother, Asau, who was living in the region of Sair in the land of Adum. 

4 He told them, “Give this message to my master Asau: ‘Humble greetings from your servant Ya'aqub. Until now I have been living with Uncle Laban, 

5 and now I own cattle, donkeys, flocks of sheep and goats, and many servants, both men and women. I have sent these messengers to inform my master of my coming, hoping that you will be friendly to me.’”

6 After delivering the message, the messengers returned to Ya'aqub and reported, “We met your brother, Asau, and he is already on his way to meet you—with an army of 400 men!” 

7 Ya'aqub was terrified at the news. He divided his household, along with the flocks and herds and camels, into two groups. 

8 He thought, “If Asau meets one group and attacks it, perhaps the other group can escape.”

9 Then Ya'aqub prayed, “O 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of my grandfather Abraham, and 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of my father, Yachaq O 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ 

10 I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Yurdan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps! 

11 O 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH, please rescue me from the hand of my brother, Asau. I am afraid that he is coming to attack me, along with my wives and children. 

12 But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore, too many to count.’”

13 Ya'aqub stayed where he was for the night. Then he selected these gifts from his possessions to present to his brother, Asau:

14 Two hundred female goats, twenty male goats, two hundred ewes, twenty rams, 

15 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys. 

16 He divided these animals into herds and assigned each to different servants. Then he told his servants, “Go ahead of me with the animals, but keep some distance between the herds.”

17 He gave these instructions to the men leading the first group: “When my brother, Asau, meets you, he will ask, ‘Whose servants are you? Where are you going? Who owns these animals?’ 

18 You must reply, ‘They belong to your servant Ya'aqub, but they are a gift for his master Asau. Look, he is coming right behind us.’”

19 Ya'aqub gave the same instructions to the second and third herdsmen and to all who followed behind the herds: “You must say the same thing to Asau when you meet him. 

20 And be sure to say, ‘Look, your servant Ya'aqub is right behind us.’ Ya'aqub thought, “I will try to appease him by sending gifts ahead of me. When I see him in person, perhaps he will be friendly to me.” 

21 So the gifts were sent on ahead, while Ya'aqub himself spent that night in the camp.

22 During the night Ya'aqub got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Yaabbuk River with them. 

23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

24 This left Ya'aqub all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 

25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Ya'aqub’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 

26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!” But Ya'aqub said, “I will not let you go unless you Barak me.”

27 “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, Ya'aqub.

28 “Your name will no longer be Ya'aqub,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called YASHAR'AL, because you have fought with 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH and with men and have won.”

29 “Please tell me your name,” Ya'aqub said. “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he Baraked Ya'aqub there.

30 Ya'aqub named the place Pani'AL (which means “face of 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH”), for he said, “I have seen 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH face to face, yet my life has been spared.” 

31 The sun was rising as Ya'aqub left Pani'AL, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. 

32 (Even today the people of YASHAR'AL don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Ya'aqub’s hip).