H5319 H5319
wrestlings (pl.); intense struggles or contests, especially divine or mighty conflicts
This rare plural noun appears only once in Genesis 30:8, where Rachel declares she has had 'wrestlings of God' with her sister—a Hebrew idiom meaning 'mighty wrestlings' or 'divine-scale struggles.' The genitive construction intensifies the wrestling imagery, suggesting conflicts of extraordinary intensity. The term derives from a root meaning to twist or grapple, capturing the visceral nature of Rachel's competition with Leah for children and status in Jacob's household.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Intense physical or metaphorical struggles described as 'of God' to emphasize their magnitude. Genesis 30:8 uses this construction to characterize Rachel's intense rivalry with her sister Leah as a contest of divine proportions. The Spanish 'luchas de' and German 'Ringkämpfe' both preserve the wrestling imagery, while the multilingual evidence shows translators recognize this as a superlative idiom rather than literal divine wrestling. 1×
AR["مُصَارَعَاتِ"]·ben["মল্লযুদ্ধ"]·DE["Ringkämpfe"]·EN["wrestlings-of"]·FR["wrestlings-de"]·heb["נפתולי"]·HI["कुश्तियां"]·ID["pergulatan-pergulatan"]·IT["wrestlings-di"]·jav["Perangan-Gusti-Allah"]·KO["씨름들을"]·PT["lutas-de"]·RU["борьбой"]·ES["luchas-de"]·SW["mapambano-ya"]·TR["Güreşlerle"]·urd["کشتیاں-الہی"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [נַפְתּוּלִים] n.[m.]pl. wrestlings (cf. √ Niph. Pf.);—cstr. נַפְתּוּלֵי א׳ Gn 30:8 wrestlings of God, i.e. mighty wrestlings.