Genesis 32:11-12

32:11 Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children. 32:12 But you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’”


tn The imperative has the force of a prayer here, not a command.

tn The “hand” here is a metonymy for “power.”

tn Heb “from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau.”

tn Heb “for I am afraid of him, lest he come.”

sn Heb “me, [the] mother upon [the] sons.” The first person pronoun “me” probably means here “me and mine,” as the following clause suggests.

tn Heb “But you, you said.” One of the occurrences of the pronoun “you” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

tn Or “will certainly deal well with you.” The infinitive absolute appears before the imperfect, underscoring God’s promise to bless. The statement is more emphatic than in v. 9.

tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the nuance of the preceding verb forward.

tn Heb “which cannot be counted because of abundance.” The imperfect verbal form indicates potential here.