And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
- BSB So Jacob was left all alone, and there a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
- NKJV Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day.
- NASB Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
- NLT This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Left alone, Jacob wrestles through the night with a man until daybreak. This mysterious figure proves to be God Himself meeting Jacob.
Overview
In the darkness Jacob grapples with a 'man' who, the passage reveals, is a divine appearance of God, often understood as a theophany or pre-incarnate appearance of the Son. The struggle dramatizes Jacob's lifelong striving now brought to a decisive encounter with God. Here the grasping deceiver must come to the end of himself before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Hos 12:3–5He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God:
- Eph 6:12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
- Gen 32:28And 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.
- Luke 13:24Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
- Gen 32:30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
- Eph 6:18Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
- Gen 30:8And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.
- Luke 22:44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
- 1 Cor 15:47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
- Gen 48:16The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
- Rom 15:30Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
- Song 2:17Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
- Isa 32:2And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
- Col 2:1For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
- Col 4:12Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
- Heb 5:7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
- Rom 8:26–27Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
- Exod 14:27And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 32:24 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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