Genesis 18:30

18:30 Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak! What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

Genesis 18:32

18:32 Finally Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Genesis 24:36

24:36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him when she was old, and my master has given him everything he owns.

Genesis 32:4-5

32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now. 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent this message 10  to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

Genesis 32:18

32:18 then you must say, 11  ‘They belong 12  to your servant Jacob. 13  They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. 14  In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” 15 


tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Heb “let it not be hot to the Lord.” This is an idiom which means “may the Lord not be angry.”

tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.

tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Heb “to my master.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

tn Heb “after her old age.”

tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the servant’s master, Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

10 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.

13 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.

14 tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

16 tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it has the nuance of an imperfect of instruction.

17 tn The words “they belong” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

18 tn Heb “to your servant, to Jacob.”

19 tn Heb “to my lord, to Esau.”

20 tn Heb “and look, also he [is] behind us.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.