Jacob Wrestles and Receives the Name Israel

That night, Jacob got up and took his family across the ford of the Jabbok. He sent over his two wives, his two servants, his eleven sons, and the things that belonged to him. After they had crossed the stream, Jacob was left alone.

While Jacob was there by himself, a man wrestled with him until daybreak. During the struggle, the man touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and Jacob's thigh was strained as they wrestled.

As dawn was coming, the man said to let him go. But Jacob would not let go unless he received a blessing. The man asked Jacob his name, and Jacob answered, "Jacob."

Then the man said Jacob would no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because he had fought with God and with men and had prevailed. Jacob asked the man's name, but the man did not tell him. There, in that place, he blessed Jacob.

Jacob named the place Peniel because, he said, he had seen God face to face and his life had been preserved. When the sun rose as he passed on from Peniel, Jacob was limping because of his thigh. Because of this, the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip at that place.