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Pentecost Season · Proper 13 · Year A

Genesis 32:22-31

Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

August 2, 2026

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Rembrandt
Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Rembrandt, c. 1659–1660Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Rembrandt makes it almost an embrace: the angel's arms around Jacob, its face calm, and the hand already at the hip.I will not let you go unless you bless me.RembrandtThe Dutch painter who treated scripture as something that happened to ordinary, badly lit people in rooms, and who painted his own face more than any artist before him.Gemäldegalerie, BerlinBerlin's old-master gallery, with one of the great collections of European painting before 1800, rebuilt after the division and reunification of the city.Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMatt. 14:13-21Mt 14:13-21
EpistleRom. 9:1-5Rom 9:1-5
Old TestamentGen. 32:22-31Gn 32:22-31Alt. OTIsa. 55:1-5Is 55:1-5
PsalterPs. 17:1-7, 15Ps 17:1-7, 15Alt. PsalmPs. 145:8-9, 14-21Ps 145:8-9, 14-21

Overview & Insights

"You have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." (Genesis 32:28)

Alone at the Jabbok, Jacob wrestles through the night with a mysterious man who renames him Israel and blesses him, and Jacob names the place Peniel for having seen God face to face.

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Commentary

Working Preacher: Commentary on Genesis 32:22-31Working Preacher: Commentary on Gn 32:22-31 Working Preacher

Lutheran lectionary commentary on Jacob wrestling at the Jabbok for the semicontinuous track.

Enduring Word: Genesis 32Enduring Word: Gn 32 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes on the whole chapter.

StudyLight: Genesis 32 CommentariesStudyLight: Gn 32 Commentaries StudyLight

Many complete commentaries on Genesis 32 gathered on one passage page.

BibleHub: Commentaries on Genesis 32:22BibleHub: Commentaries on Gn 32:22 BibleHub

Parallel classic commentaries keyed to the night crossing of the Jabbok.

Background & Word Study

BibleProject: Genesis 12-50 OverviewBibleProject: Gn 12-50 Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the ancestral narratives from Abraham to Joseph.

Sefaria: Genesis 32 (Hebrew)Sefaria: Gn 32 (Hebrew) Sefaria

Hebrew text with English and classical Jewish commentary on the chapter.

BibleHub: Genesis 32 InterlinearBibleHub: Gn 32 Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew-English interlinear for word-level study of the chapter.

The Church Fathers

Catena: Genesis 32Catena: Gn 32 Catena

Patristic comments gathered verse by verse on Genesis 32.

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