According to Genesis, God gave Jacob the name Israel after Jacob wrestled through the night.
Genesis 32 describes Jacob wrestling with a mysterious man until daybreak near the Jabbok River. Jacob refuses to let go without receiving a blessing. The figure tells him that he will no longer be called Jacob but Israel, because he has struggled with God and with people and has prevailed.
The passage is deliberately mysterious: different translations and interpretations describe Jacob’s opponent as a man, an angel, or God. Jacob names the place Peniel, explaining that he has seen God face to face and survived. The encounter leaves him injured in the hip.
Israel later becomes the name of Jacob’s descendants and, in biblical history, the name of the ancient Israelite kingdom and the modern state. Jacob’s twelve sons are presented as the ancestors of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.