Jacob

Who is Jacob?

Jacob, also later known as Israel, as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament, the Qur'an and Baha'i scripture was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.

In the Hebrew Bible, he is the son of Isaac and Rebekah, the grandson of Abraham, Sarah and of Bethuel, and the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah. The children named in Genesis were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, daughter Dinah, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Before the birth of Benjamin, Jacob is renamed "Israel" by God. Etymologically, the name "Israel" comes from the Hebrew words לִשְׂרות and אֵל. Popular English translations typically reference the face off with God, ranging from active "wrestles with God" to passive "God contends," but various other meanings have also been suggested.