Genesis 1 Early the next morning, Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters goodbye; then he set out on his journey back home, 2 while Jacob continued on his own way. Then God's messengers encountered Jacob. 雅各伯也上道前行,遇见了天主的使者。 3 1 When he saw them he said,"This is God's encampment." So he named that place Mahanaim. 4 Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the 5 with this message:"Thus shall you say to my lord Esau: 'Your servant Jacob speaks as follows: I have been staying with Laban and have been detained there until now. 6 I own cattle, asses and sheep, as well as male and female servants. I am sending my lord this information in the hope of gaining your favor.'" 我拥有牛、驴、羊和仆婢,现在打发人报告我主,希望得你的恩爱。" 7 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said,"We reached your brother Esau. He is now coming to meet you, accompanied by four hundred men." 使者回来见雅各伯说:"我们到了你哥哥厄撒乌那里,他正前来迎接你;同他来的尚有四百人。" 8 Jacob was very much frightened. In his anxiety, he divided the people who were with him, as well as his flocks, herds and camels, into two camps. 雅各伯大为震惊,很是忧虑,遂将自己的人和羊群牛群及骆驼分作两队, 9"If Esau should attack and overwhelm one camp," he reasoned,"the remaining camp may still survive." 10 Then he prayed:"O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac! You told me, O LORD, 'Go back to the land of your birth, and I will be good to you.' 11 I am unworthy of all the acts of kindness that you have loyally performed for your servant: although I crossed the 我本不配获得你向你仆人所施的种种慈恩和忠信,我只带了一条棍杖过了这约但河,现在我却拥有两队人马。 12 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau! Otherwise I fear that when he comes he will strike me down and slay the mothers and children. 求你救我脱离我哥哥厄撒乌的手,因为我怕他来击杀我,击杀母亲和孩子。 13 You yourself said,‘I will be very good to you, and I will make your descendants like the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'" 你原来说过:我必要恩待你,使你的后代如海沙,多得不可胜数。" 14 After passing the night there, Jacob selected from what he had with him the following presents for his brother Esau: 15 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes and twenty rams; 计有母山羊二百只,公山羊二十只,母绵羊二百只,公绵羊二十只, 16 thirty milch camels and their young; forty cows and ten bulls; twenty she-asses and ten he-asses. 17 He put these animals in charge of his servants, in separate droves, and he told the servants,"Go on ahead of me, but keep a space between one drove and the next." 18 To the servant in the lead he gave this instruction:"When my brother Esau meets you, he may ask you, ‘Whose man are you? Where are you going? To whom do these animals ahead of you belong?' 19 Then you shall answer,‘They belong to your brother Jacob, but they have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau; and Jacob himself is right behind us.'" 你要答说:是你仆人雅各伯的,是送给我主厄撒乌的礼物。看,他自己就在我们后面。" 20 He gave similar instructions to the second servant and the third and to all the others who followed behind the droves, namely:"Thus and thus shall you say to Esau, when you reach him; 21 and be sure to add, ‘Your servant Jacob is right behind us.'" For Jacob reasoned,"If I first appease him with gifts that precede me, then later, when I face him, perhaps he will forgive me." 并且还要说:看,你的仆人雅各伯就在我们后面。"因为他心里想:"如果我先送礼向他讨好,然后才与他见面,也许他会欢迎我。" 22 So the gifts went on ahead of him, while he stayed that night in the camp. 于是礼物先他而行,他自己当夜仍留在营内。 23 In the course of that night, however, Jacob arose, took his two wives, with the two maidservants and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 他当夜起来,带了他的两个妻子,两个婢女和十一个孩子,由浅处过了雅波克河。 24 After he had taken them across the stream and had brought over all his possessions, 25 2 Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. 雅各伯独自一人留在后面。有一人前来与他搏斗一直到曙光破晓。 26 When the man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled. 那人见自己不能制胜,就在他的大腿窝上打了一下;雅各伯正在与他搏斗之际,大腿窝脱了节。 27 The man then said,"Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said,"I will not let you go until you bless me." 28"What is your name?" the man asked. He answered,"Jacob." 29 3 Then the man said,"You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as 那人说:"你的名字以后不再叫雅各伯,应叫以色列,因为你与神与人搏斗,占了优势。" 30 Jacob then asked him,"Do tell me your name, please." He answered,"Why should you want to know my name?" With that, he bade him farewell. 31 4 Jacob named the place Peniel,"Because I have seen God face to face," he said,", yet my life has been spared." 32 At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip. 雅各伯经过培尼耳时,太阳已升起照在身上,由于大腿脱了节,他一走一瘸。 33 That is why, to this day, the Israelites do not eat the sciatic muscle that is on the hip socket, inasmuch as Jacob's hip socket was struck at the sciatic muscle. 为此,以色列子民至今不吃大腿窝上的筋,因为那人打了雅各伯的大腿窝,正打在筋上。 Footnotes〔注解〕 1 [3] Mahanaim: a town in 2 [25] Some man: a messenger of the Lord in human form, as is clear from Genesis 32:29,-31 3 4 [31] Peniel: a variant of the word Penuel (Genesis 32:32), the name of a town on the north bank of the Jabbok in |