Jabbok

Jabbok (meaning emptying; pouring out; wrestling) is the stream that flows westward from the mountains of Gilead and empties into the Jordan River approximately midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. It is identified with the modern Nahr ez-Zerqa ("Blue River"). The Jabbok marked the northern border of the territory of Sihon king of the Amorites and the southern boundary of the Ammonites (Num. 21:24; Deut. 3:16; Josh. 12:2). Its most famous appearance in Scripture is the night Jacob wrestled with the divine Stranger on its bank as he prepared to meet Esau after twenty years — the mysterious encounter in which Jacob's name was changed to Israel and his hip was put out of joint (Gen. 32:22–32). The river's name and the wrestling narrative share a common Hebrew root (yabok / abak).