Bible Strands
Genesis 32:22
During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob acts alone in his camp after sending his gifts ahead to meet Esau, preparing to cross the Jabbok ford during the night.
The words — The text highlights וַ/יָּ֣קָם (va/i.Ya.kom, "and he rose") and בַּ/לַּ֣יְלָה (ba./Lay.lah, "in the night") to mark the sudden, nocturnal departure. It also uses וַ/יִּקַּ֞ח (va/i.yi.Kach, "and he took") to emphasize his active gathering of his family before crossing.
The thread — The Jabbok ford appears as a territorial boundary in Deuteronomy 3:16, Deuteronomy 2:37, and Joshua 12:2, marking the edge of the Transjordan region.
Why it lands — The verse records Jacob’s deliberate nighttime relocation of his household across a known geographical boundary, demanding recognition of his cautious preparation before the impending encounter.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 3:16 and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
- Deuteronomy 2:37 But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.
- Joshua 12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
- 1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
- Genesis 35:22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- Genesis 35:18 And with her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni. But his father called him Benjamin.
- Genesis 29:21 Finally Jacob said to Laban, “Grant me my wife, for my time is complete, and I want to sleep with her.”