Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
Parallel translations
- KJV And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him 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 12:3–5In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.
- Eph 6:12For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- Gen 32:28He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
- Luke 13:24“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.
- Gen 32:30Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
- Eph 6:18with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:
- Gen 30:8Rachel said, “I have wrestled with my sister with mighty wrestlings, and have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali.
- Luke 22:44Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
- 1 Cor 15:47The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.
- Gen 48:16the angel who has 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. Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
- Rom 15:30Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,
- Song 2:17Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.
- Isa 32:2A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- Col 2:1For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those 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, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
- Heb 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
- Rom 8:26–27In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
- Exod 14:27Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it. Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the middle of the sea.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.