---
title: "Genesis 32 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/genesis/32/
description: "Jacob's vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his wrestling with… Genesis 32 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Genesis 32

Genesis 32 is chapter 32 of 50 in the Book of Genesis. Here are all 32 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Jacob's vision of angels; his message and presents to Esau; his wrestling with an angel.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Genesis 32 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Likewise, Jacob continued on the journey that he had begun. And the Angels of God met him.
2. When he had seen them, he said, “These are the Encampments of God.” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim, that is, ‘Encampments.’
3. Then he also sent messengers before him to his brother Esau, in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom.
4. And he instructed them, saying: “You shall speak in this way to my lord Esau: ‘Your brother Jacob says these things: “I have sojourned with Laban, and I have been with him until the present day.
5. I have oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and men servants, and women servants. And now I send an ambassador to my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.”’”
6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We went to your brother Esau, and behold, he rushes to meet you with four hundred men.”
7. Jacob was very afraid. And in his terror, he divided the people who were with him, likewise the flocks, and the sheep, and the oxen, and the camels, into two companies,
8. saying: “If Esau goes to one company, and strikes it, the other company, which is left behind, will be saved.”
9. And Jacob said: “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me: ‘Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will do well for you.’
10. I am less than any of your compassions and your truth, which you have fulfilled to your servant. With my staff I crossed over this Jordan. And now I go back with two companies.
11. Rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am very afraid of him, lest perhaps he may come and strike down the mother with the sons.
12. You did say that you would do well by me, and that you would expand my offspring like the sand of the sea, which, because of its multitude, cannot be numbered.”
13. And when he had slept there that night, he separated, from the things that he had, gifts for his brother Esau:
14. two hundred she-goats, twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
15. thirty milking camels with their young, forty cows, and twenty bulls, twenty she-donkeys, and ten of their young.
16. And he sent them by the hands of his servants, each flock separately, and he said to his servants: “Pass before me, and let there be a space between flock and flock.”
17. And he instructed the first, saying: “If you happen to meet my brother Esau, and he questions you: “Whose are you?” or, “Where are you going?” or, “Whose are these which follow you?”
18. you shall respond: “Your servant Jacob’s. He has sent them as a gift to my lord Esau. And he is also coming after us.”
19. Similarly, he gave orders to the second, and the third, and to all who followed the flocks, saying: “Speak these same words to Esau, when you find him.
20. And you will add: ‘Your servant Jacob himself also follows after us, for he said: “I will appease him with the gifts that go ahead, and after this, I will see him; perhaps he will be gracious to me.”’”
21. And so the gifts went before him, but he himself lodged that night in the camp.
22. And when he had arisen early, he took his two wives, and the same number of handmaids, with his eleven sons, and he crossed over the ford of Jabbok.
23. And having delivered over all the things that belonged to him,
24. he remained alone. And behold, a man wrestled with him until morning.
25. And when he saw that he would not be able to overcome him, he touched the nerve of his thigh, and immediately it withered.
26. And he said to him, “Release me, for now the dawn ascends.” He responded, “I will not release you, unless you bless me.”
27. Therefore he said, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.”
28. But he said, “Your name will not be called Jacob, but Israel; for if you have been strong against God, how much more will you prevail against men?”
29. Jacob questioned him, “Tell me, by what name are you called?” He responded, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him in the same place.
30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.”
31. And immediately the sun rose upon him, after he had crossed beyond Peniel. Yet in truth, he limped on his foot.
32. For this reason, the sons of Israel, even to the present day, do not eat the nerve that withered in Jacob’s thigh, because he touched the nerve of his thigh and it was obstructed.

## Genesis 32 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Jacob quoque abiit itinere quo cœperat: fueruntque ei obviam angeli Dei.
2. Quos cum vidisset, ait: Castra Dei sunt hæc: et appellavit nomen loci illius Mahanaim, id est, Castra.
3. Misit autem et nuntios ante se ad Esau fratrem suum in terram Seir, in regionem Edom:
4. præcepitque eis, dicens: Sic loquimini domino meo Esau: Hæc dicit frater tuus Jacob: Apud Laban peregrinatus sum, et fui usque in præsentem diem.
5. Habeo boves, et asinos, et oves, et servos, et ancillas: mittoque nunc legationem ad dominum meum, ut inveniam gratiam in conspectu tuo.
6. Reversique sunt nuntii ad Jacob, dicentes: Venimus ad Esau fratrem tuum, et ecce properat tibi in occursum cum quadringentis viris.
7. Timuit Jacob valde: et perterritus divisit populum qui secum erat, greges quoque et oves, et boves, et camelos, in duas turmas,
8. dicens: Si venerit Esau ad unam turmam, et percusserit eam, alia turma, quæ relicta est, salvabitur.
9. Dixitque Jacob: Deus patris mei Abraham, et Deus patris mei Isaac: Domine qui dixisti mihi: Revertere in terram tuam, et in locum nativitatis tuæ, et benefaciam tibi:
10. minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis, et veritate tua quam explevisti servo tuo. In baculo meo transivi Jordanem istum: et nunc cum duabus turmis regredior.
11. Erue me de manu fratris mei Esau, quia valde eum timeo: ne forte veniens percutiat matrem cum filiis.
12. Tu locutus es quod benefaceres mihi, et dilatares semen meum sicut arenam maris, quæ præ multitudine numerari non potest.
13. Cumque dormisset ibi nocte illa, separavit de his quæ habebat, munera Esau fratri suo,
14. capras ducentas, hircos viginti, oves ducentas, et arietes viginti,
15. camelos fœtas cum pullis suis triginta, vaccas quadraginta, et tauros viginti, asinas viginti et pullos earum decem.
16. Et misit per manus servorum suorum singulos seorsum greges, dixitque pueris suis: Antecedite me, et sit spatium inter gregem et gregem.
17. Et præcepit priori, dicens: Si obvium habueris fratrem meum Esau, et interrogaverit te: Cujus es? aut, Quo vadis? aut, Cujus sunt ista quæ sequeris?
18. respondebis: Servi tui Jacob, munera misit domino meo Esau, ipse quoque post nos venit.
19. Similiter dedit mandata secundo, et tertio, et cunctis qui sequebantur greges, dicens: Iisdem verbis loquimini ad Esau cum inveneritis eum.
20. Et addetis: Ipse quoque servus tuus Jacob iter nostrum insequitur. Dixit enim: Placabo illum muneribus quæ præcedunt, et postea videbo illum: forsitan propitiabitur mihi.
21. Præcesserunt itaque munera ante eum, ipse vero mansit nocte illa in castris.
22. Cumque mature surrexisset, tulit duas uxores suas, et totidem famulas cum undecim filiis, et transivit vadum Jaboc.
23. Traductisque omnibus quæ ad se pertinebant,
24. mansit solus: et ecce vir luctabatur cum eo usque mane.
25. Qui cum videret quod eum superare non posset, tetigit nervum femoris ejus, et statim emarcuit.
26. Dixitque ad eum: Dimitte me: jam enim ascendit aurora. Respondit: Non dimittam te, nisi benedixeris mihi.
27. Ait ergo: Quod nomen est tibi? Respondit: Jacob.
28. At ille: Nequaquam, inquit, Jacob appellabitur nomen tuum, sed Israël: quoniam si contra Deum fortis fuisti, quanto magis contra homines prævalebis?
29. Interrogavit eum Jacob: Dic mihi, quo appellaris nomine? Respondit: Cur quæris nomen meum? Et benedixit ei in eodem loco.
30. Vocavitque Jacob nomen loci illius Phanuel, dicens: Vidi Deum facie ad faciem, et salva facta est anima mea.
31. Ortusque est ei statim sol, postquam transgressus est Phanuel: ipse vero claudicabat pede.
32. Quam ob causam non comedunt nervum filii Israël, qui emarcuit in femore Jacob, usque in præsentem diem: eo quod tetigerit nervum femoris ejus, et obstupuerit.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 2573: In the Old Testament ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 24: “A man” … This was an angel in human shape, as we learn from Osee 12. 4. He is called God, ver. 28 and 30, because he represented the person of the Son of God. This wrestling, in which Jacob, assisted by God, was a match for an angel, was so ordered (ver. 28,) that he might learn by this experiment of the divine assistance, that neither Esau, nor any other man, should have power to hurt him.-- It was also spiritual, as appeareth by his earnest prayer, urging and at last obtaining the angel's blessing.
- Verse 30: This word signifies the face of God, or the sight, or seeing of God.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Tue, Jul 6, 2027 (computed): Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Genesis 32:23-33

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).