Genesis 33:1-20

Jacob Meets Esau

33:1 Jacob looked up ¹  and saw that Esau was coming ²  along with four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. 33:2 He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them. ³  33:3 But Jacob ⁴  himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached ⁵  his brother. 33:4 But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept. 33:5 When Esau ⁶  looked up ⁷  and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob ⁸  replied, “The children whom God has graciously given ⁹  your servant.” 33:6 The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down. ¹⁰  33:7 Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.

33:8 Esau ¹¹  then asked, “What did you intend ¹²  by sending all these herds to meet me?” ¹³  Jacob ¹⁴  replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.” 33:9 But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.” 33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ¹⁵  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ¹⁶  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ¹⁷  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ¹⁸  33:11 Please take my present ¹⁹  that was brought to you, for God has been generous ²⁰  to me and I have all I need.” ²¹  When Jacob urged him, he took it. ²² 

33:12 Then Esau ²³  said, “Let’s be on our way! ²⁴  I will go in front of you.” 33:13 But Jacob ²⁵  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²⁶  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ²⁷  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die. 33:14 Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children, ²⁸  until I come to my lord at Seir.”

33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” ²⁹  “Why do that?” Jacob replied. ³⁰  “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” ³¹ 

33:16 So that same day Esau made his way back ³²  to Seir. 33:17 But ³³  Jacob traveled to Succoth ³⁴  where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called ³⁵  Succoth. ³⁶ 

33:18 After he left Paddan Aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped near ³⁷  the city. 33:19 Then he purchased the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent; he bought it ³⁸  from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money. ³⁹  33:20 There he set up an altar and called it “The God of Israel is God.” ⁴⁰ 

Genesis 27:9-19

27:9 Go to the flock and get me two of the best young goats. I’ll prepare ⁴¹  them in a tasty way for your father, just the way he loves them. 27:10 Then you will take ⁴²  it to your father. Thus he will eat it ⁴³  and ⁴⁴  bless you before he dies.”

27:11 “But Esau my brother is a hairy man,” Jacob protested to his mother Rebekah, “and I have smooth skin! ⁴⁵  27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him ⁴⁶  and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ⁴⁷  my son! Just obey me! ⁴⁸  Go and get them for me!”

27:14 So he went and got the goats ⁴⁹  and brought them to his mother. She ⁵⁰  prepared some tasty food, just the way his father loved it. 27:15 Then Rebekah took her older son Esau’s best clothes, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 27:16 She put the skins of the young goats ⁵¹  on his hands ⁵²  and the smooth part of his neck. 27:17 Then she handed ⁵³  the tasty food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.

27:18 He went to his father and said, “My father!” Isaac ⁵⁴  replied, “Here I am. Which are you, my son?” ⁵⁵  27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I’ve done as you told me. Now sit up ⁵⁶  and eat some of my wild game so that you can bless me.” ⁵⁷ 

Genesis 38:9-20

38:9 But Onan knew that the child ⁵⁸  would not be considered his. ⁵⁹  So whenever ⁶⁰  he had sexual relations with ⁶¹  his brother’s wife, he withdrew prematurely ⁶²  so as not to give his brother a descendant. 38:10 What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord ⁶³  killed him too.

38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ⁶⁴  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ⁶⁵  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

38:12 After some time ⁶⁶  Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. After Judah was consoled, he left for Timnah to visit his sheepshearers, along with ⁶⁷  his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 38:13 Tamar was told, ⁶⁸  “Look, your father-in-law is going up ⁶⁹  to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 38:14 So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because ⁷⁰  she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.) ⁷¹ 

38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute ⁷²  because she had covered her face. 38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ⁷³  (He did not realize ⁷⁴  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ⁷⁵  38:17 He replied, “I’ll send you a young goat from the flock.” She asked, “Will you give me a pledge until you send it?” ⁷⁶  38:18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” She replied, “Your seal, your cord, and the staff that’s in your hand.” So he gave them to her and had sex with her. ⁷⁷  She became pregnant by him. 38:19 She left immediately, ⁷⁸  removed her veil, and put on her widow’s clothes.

38:20 Then Judah had his friend Hirah ⁷⁹  the Adullamite take a young goat to get back from the woman the items he had given in pledge, ⁸⁰  but Hirah ⁸¹  could not find her.

Matthew 16:18

16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades ⁸²  will not overpower it.

Matthew 16:1

The Demand for a Sign

16:1 Now when the Pharisees ⁸³  and Sadducees ⁸⁴  came to test Jesus, ⁸⁵  they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ⁸⁶ 

Colossians 1:28

1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ⁸⁷  and teaching ⁸⁸  all people ⁸⁹  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ⁹⁰  in Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-12

4:11 It was he ⁹¹  who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ⁹²  4:12 to equip ⁹³  the saints for the work of ministry, that is, ⁹⁴  to build up the body of Christ,

[33:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his eyes.”

[33:1]  ² tn Or “and look, Esau was coming.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.

[33:2]  ³ sn This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable.

[33:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “until his drawing near unto his brother.” The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.

[33:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”

[33:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:5]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”

[33:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the female servants drew near, they and their children and they bowed down.”

[33:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ¹² tn Heb “Who to you?”

[33:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”

[33:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[33:10]  ¹⁶ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

[33:10]  ¹⁷ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

[33:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

[33:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “blessing.” It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.

[33:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “gracious,” but in the specific sense of prosperity.

[33:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “all.”

[33:11]  ²² tn Heb “and he urged him and he took.” The referent of the first pronoun in the sequence (“he”) has been specified as “Jacob” in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ²³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “let us travel and let us go.” The two cohortatives are used in combination with the sense, “let’s travel along, get going, be on our way.”

[33:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “weak.”

[33:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

[33:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”

[33:15]  ²⁹ tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.

[33:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[33:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[33:16]  ³² tn Heb “returned on his way.”

[33:17]  ³³ tn The disjunctive clause contrasts Jacob’s action with Esau’s.

[33:17]  ³⁴ sn But Jacob traveled to Succoth. There are several reasons why Jacob chose not to go to Mt. Seir after Esau. First, as he said, his herds and children probably could not keep up with the warriors. Second, he probably did not fully trust his brother. The current friendliness could change, and he could lose everything. And third, God did tell him to return to his land, not Seir. But Jacob is still not able to deal truthfully, probably because of fear of Esau.

[33:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “why he called.” One could understand “Jacob” as the subject of the verb, but it is more likely that the subject is indefinite, in which case the verb is better translated as passive.

[33:17]  ³⁶ sn The name Succoth means “shelters,” an appropriate name in light of the shelters Jacob built there for his livestock.

[33:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in front of.”

[33:19]  ³⁸ tn The words “he bought it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 19 is one long sentence.

[33:19]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown. (However, cf. REB, which renders the term as “sheep”).

[33:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “God, the God of Israel.” Rather than translating the name, a number of modern translations merely transliterate it from the Hebrew as “El Elohe Israel” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB). It is not entirely clear how the name should be interpreted grammatically. One option is to supply an equative verb, as in the translation: “The God of Israel [is] God.” Another interpretive option is “the God of Israel [is] strong [or “mighty”].” Buying the land and settling down for a while was a momentous step for the patriarch, so the commemorative naming of the altar is significant.

[27:9]  ⁴¹ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.

[27:10]  ⁴² tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive. It carries forward the tone of instruction initiated by the command to “go…and get” in the preceding verse.

[27:10]  ⁴³ tn The form is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it carries the future nuance of the preceding verbs of instruction, but by switching the subject to Jacob, indicates the expected result of the subterfuge.

[27:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “so that.” The conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[27:11]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, ‘Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, but I am a smooth [skinned] man.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:12]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like a mocker.” The Hebrew expression “I will be in his eyes like” means “I would appear to him as.”

[27:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “upon me your curse.”

[27:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”

[27:14]  ⁴⁹ tn The words “the goats” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “his mother.” This has been replaced by the pronoun “she” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:16]  ⁵¹ tn In the Hebrew text the object (“the skins of the young goats”) precedes the verb. The disjunctive clause draws attention to this key element in the subterfuge.

[27:16]  ⁵² tn The word “hands” probably includes the forearms here. How the skins were attached is not specified in the Hebrew text; cf. NLT “she made him a pair of gloves.”

[27:17]  ⁵³ tn Heb “gave…into the hand of.”

[27:18]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and he said”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ⁵⁵ sn Which are you, my son? Isaac’s first question shows that the deception is going to require more subterfuge than Rebekah had anticipated. Jacob will have to pull off the deceit.

[27:19]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.

[27:19]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.

[38:9]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “offspring.”

[38:9]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “would not be his,” that is, legally speaking. Under the levirate system the child would be legally considered the child of his deceased brother.

[38:9]  ⁶⁰ tn The construction shows that this was a repeated practice and not merely one action.

[38:9]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “he went to.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:9]  ⁶² tn Heb “he spoiled [his semen] to the ground.” Onan withdrew prematurely and ejaculated on the ground to prevent his brother’s widow from becoming pregnant.

[38:10]  ⁶³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[38:11]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “said.”

[38:11]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

[38:12]  ⁶⁶ sn After some time. There is not enough information in the narrative to know how long this was. The text says “the days increased.” It was long enough for Shelah to mature and for Tamar to realize she would not have him.

[38:12]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and he went up to the shearers of his sheep, he and.”

[38:13]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “And it was told to Tamar, saying.”

[38:13]  ⁶⁹ tn The active participle indicates the action was in progress or about to begin.

[38:14]  ⁷⁰ tn The Hebrew text simply has “because,” connecting this sentence to what precedes. For stylistic reasons the words “she did this” are supplied in the translation and a new sentence begun.

[38:14]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not given to him as a wife.”

[38:15]  ⁷² tn Heb “he reckoned her for a prostitute,” which was what Tamar had intended for him to do. She obviously had some idea of his inclinations, or she would not have tried this risky plan.

[38:16]  ⁷³ tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:16]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “for he did not know that.”

[38:16]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:17]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “until you send.”

[38:18]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:19]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “and she arose and left,” the first verb in the pair emphasizing that she wasted no time.

[38:20]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “sent by the hand of his friend.” Here the name of the friend (“Hirah”) has been included in the translation for clarity.

[38:20]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand.”

[38:20]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Judah’s friend Hirah the Adullamite) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:18]  ⁸² tn Or “and the power of death” (taking the reference to the gates of Hades as a metonymy).

[16:1]  ⁸³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ⁸⁴ sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[16:1]  ⁸⁵ tn The object of the participle πειράζοντες (peirazontes) is not given in the Greek text but has been supplied here for clarity.

[16:1]  ⁸⁶ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

[1:28]  ⁸⁷ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ⁸⁸ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ⁸⁹ tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ⁹⁰ tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[4:11]  ⁹¹ tn The emphasis on Christ is continued through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos), and is rendered in English as “it was he” as this seems to lay emphasis on the “he.”

[4:11]  ⁹² sn Some interpreters have understood the phrase pastors and teachers to refer to one and the same group. This would mean that all pastors are teachers and that all teachers are pastors. This position is often taken because it is recognized that both nouns (i.e., pastors and teachers) are governed by one article in Greek. But because the nouns are plural, it is extremely unlikely that they refer to the same group, but only that the author is linking them closely together. It is better to regard the pastors as a subset of teachers. In other words, all pastors are teachers, but not all teachers are pastors. See ExSyn 284.

[4:12]  ⁹³ tn On the translation of πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων (pro" ton katartismon twn Jagiwn) as “to equip the saints” see BDAG 526 s.v. καταρτισμός. In this case the genitive is taken as objective and the direct object of the verbal idea implied in καταρτισμός (katartismo").

[4:12]  ⁹⁴ tn The εἰς (eis) clause is taken as epexegetical to the previous εἰς clause, namely, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας (ei" ergon diakonia").