Genesis 32:3-8

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 32:3 tn Heb “before him.”
2. Genesis 32:3 tn Heb “field.”
3. Genesis 32:4 sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.
4. Genesis 32:4 tn Heb “Laban and have lingered until now.”
5. Genesis 32:5 tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense—as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows—much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.
6. Genesis 32:5 tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7. Genesis 32:8 tn Heb “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.”
8. Genesis 32:8 tn Heb “and he said, ‘If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.” The Hebrew verb אָמַר (ʾamar) here represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “he thought.” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9. Genesis 32:8 tn Heb “the surviving camp will be for escape.” The word “escape” is a feminine noun. The term most often refers to refugees from war.