What Does Genesis 32:28 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Israel is not a name that erases the struggle; it gathers the struggle into a nature that has prevailed.
THE MEANING
Your name is more than a label; it can hold the nature taking shape through what you face. Israel is explained through striving with God and people and being able to stand through the encounter, so the struggle remains visible in the new name. The change does not require the struggle to vanish first.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that struggle with God means the encounter has failed: here, striving itself becomes part of the name that marks prevailing.
THE ROOT
יִשְׂרָאֵל
Yisra’el
GROWS FROM
שׂרה
To strive or contend; the verse links this root to Israel through its explanation, “you have striven.”
The verse’s own wordplay connects Israel with שָׂרִיתָ (śārîtā), “you have striven.” The new name keeps the struggle inside it, so the encounter is gathered into the person’s nature rather than erased.
ALSO GROWS
śārîtā: You have striven or contended
שָׂרִיתָ
This is the verb the verse uses to explain the name Israel.
wayyāśar: He contended
וַיָּשַׂר
Hosea uses this form for Jacob’s struggle, echoing the same root behind the name’s explanation.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqov
GROWS FROM
עקב
Heel; to follow at the heel or seize the heel.
Jacob’s name carries the image of holding another’s heel. The renaming moves beyond that old pattern, while the verse shows that the struggle remains part of the new name’s meaning.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqēv: Heel
עָקֵב
Jacob is named for holding his brother’s heel, giving the old name a concrete image of grasping and following.
ʿāqav: To take by the heel; to supplant or outmaneuver
עָקַב
The verb appears in the story of Jacob’s dealings with his brother, deepening the pattern carried by his name.
וַתּוּכָל
wattukhal
GROWS FROM
יכל
To be able; to prevail.
The word rendered “prevailed” also carries the sense of being able. The verse names the outcome as a capacity that holds through the encounter, not as the disappearance of struggle.
ALSO GROWS
yākhol: To be able; can
יָכֹל
The root’s basic sense of ability gives “prevailed” the shade of being able to continue through the struggle.
vayyukhal: And he prevailed
וַיֻּכָל
Hosea uses this form for Jacob’s prevailing, repeating the same root in its retelling of the encounter.
THE PATTERN
A new name gathers a transformed nature into words, making an encounter’s change visible.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.THE THREAD
Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el, and there he spake with us;Hosea repeats the root שׂרה for striving and יכל for prevailing, the two roots that explain Israel’s name and outcome here. It also keeps the tears and plea inside the account of prevailing: the struggle remains visible in the changed name.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us