Genesis 35:10
Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- dicens : Non vocaberis ultra Jacob, sed Israël erit nomen tuum. Et appellavit eum Israël,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός Τὸ ὄνομά σου οὐ κληθήσεται ἔτι Ἰακώβ, ἀλλ᾽ Ἰσραὴλ ἔσται τὸ ὄνομά σου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּֽאמֶר ל֥וֹ אֱלֹהִ֖ים שִׁמְךָ֣ יַעֲקֹ֑ב לֹֽא יִקָּרֵא֩ שִׁמְךָ֨ ע֜וֹד יַעֲקֹ֗ב כִּ֤י אִם יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה שְׁמֶ֔ךָ וַיִּקְרָ֥א אֶת שְׁמ֖וֹ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל
Haydock's commentary
Israel. This name signifies one that prevaileth with God; (Challoner) and is more honourable and expressive than that of Jacob. God confirms what had been declared by his angel, chap. xxxii. 28.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Justin Martyr Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter LVIII. The same is proved
And I continued: “It is again written by Moses, my brethren, that He who is called God and appeared to the patriarchs is called both Angel and Lord, in order that from this you may understand Him to be minister to the Father of all things, as you have already admitted, and may remain firm, persuaded by additional arguments. The word of God, therefore, [recorded] by Moses, when referring to Jacob the grandson of Abraham, speaks thus: ‘And it came to pass, when the sheep conceived, that I saw them with my eyes in the dream: And, behold, the he-goats and the rams which leaped upon the sheep and she-goats were spotted with white, and speckled and sprinkled with a dun colour. And the Angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob, Jacob. …
St Augustine Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, On the words of the Gospel, John i. 48,’When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,’ etc
3. Ye that are well instructed in the school of Christ, know that this Jacob is Israel too. They are two names; for they are one man. His first name Jacob, which is by interpretation supplanter, he received when he was born. For when those twins were born, his brother Esau was born first; and the hand of the younger was found on the elder’s foot. He held his brother’s foot who preceded him in his birth, and himself came after. And because of this occurrence, because he held his brother’s heel, he was called Jacob, that is, Supplanter. And afterwards, when he was returning from Mesopotamia, the Angel wrestled with him in the way. What comparison can there be between an Angel’s and a man’s strength? Therefore it is a mystery, a sacrament, a prophecy, a figure; let us therefore understand it. For consider the manner of the struggle too. …
St Augustine Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, On the words of the Gospel, John i. 48,’When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,’ etc
4. But as arising out of this occasion, this must not be passed over, which may haply of itself perplex some of you; with what design is it, that when this Jacob’s grandfather Abraham’s name was changed (for he too was first called Abram, and God changed his name, and said, “Thou shall not be called Abram, but Abraham”); from that time he was not called Abram. Search in the Scriptures, and you will see that before he received another name, he was called only Abram; after he received it, he was called only Abraham. But this Jacob, when he received another name, heard the same words, “Thou shalt not be called Jacob, but Israel shalt thou be called.” Search the Scriptures, and see how that he was always called both, both Jacob and Israel. Abram after he had received another name, was called only Abraham. Jacob after he had received another name, was called both Jacob and Israel. …