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 8:10

8:10 He waited seven more days and then sent out the dove again from the ark.

Matthew 16:17

16:17 And Jesus answered him, ⁴¹  “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood ⁴²  did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!

Matthew 26:56

26:56 But this has happened so that ⁴³  the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Matthew 26:69-75

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A ⁴⁴  slave girl ⁴⁵  came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: ⁴⁶  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When ⁴⁷  he went out to the gateway, another slave girl ⁴⁸  saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” 26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!” 26:73 After ⁴⁹  a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent ⁵⁰  gives you away!” 26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. ⁵¹  26:75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. ⁵² 

John 20:25

20:25 The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, ⁵³  “Unless I see the wounds ⁵⁴  from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!” ⁵⁵ 

Acts 13:13

Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch

13:13 Then Paul and his companions put out to sea ⁵⁶  from Paphos ⁵⁷  and came to Perga ⁵⁸  in Pamphylia, ⁵⁹  but John ⁶⁰  left them and returned to Jerusalem. ⁶¹ 

Acts 15:37-39

15:37 Barnabas wanted to bring John called Mark along with them too, 15:38 but Paul insisted ⁶²  that they should not take along this one who had left them in Pamphylia ⁶³  and had not accompanied them in the work. 15:39 They had ⁶⁴  a sharp disagreement, ⁶⁵  so that they parted company. Barnabas took along ⁶⁶  Mark and sailed away to Cyprus, ⁶⁷ 

[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.

[16:17]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of this phrase has been modified for clarity.

[16:17]  ⁴² tn The expression “flesh and blood” could refer to “any human being” (so TEV, NLT; cf. NIV “man”), but it could also refer to Peter himself (i.e., his own intuition; cf. CEV “You didn’t discover this on your own”). Because of the ambiguity of the referent, the phrase “flesh and blood” has been retained in the translation.

[26:56]  ⁴³ tn Grk “But so that”; the verb “has happened” is implied.

[26:69]  ⁴⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:69]  ⁴⁵ tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[26:70]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:71]  ⁴⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:71]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).

[26:73]  ⁴⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:73]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “your speech.”

[26:74]  ⁵¹ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.

[26:75]  ⁵² sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.

[20:25]  ⁵³ tn Grk “but he said to them.”

[20:25]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “marks.”

[20:25]  ⁵⁵ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context. The use of “it” here as direct object of the verb πιστεύσω (pisteusw) specifies exactly what Thomas was refusing to believe: that Jesus had risen from the dead, as reported by his fellow disciples. Otherwise the English reader may be left with the impression Thomas was refusing to “believe in” Jesus, or “believe Jesus to be the Christ.” The dramatic tension in this narrative is heightened when Thomas, on seeing for himself the risen Christ, believes more than just the resurrection (see John 20:28).

[13:13]  ⁵⁶ tn BDAG 62 s.v. ἀνάγω 4, “as a nautical t.t. (ἀ. τὴν ναῦν put a ship to sea), mid. or pass. ἀνάγεσθαι to begin to go by boat, put out to sea.”

[13:13]  ⁵⁷ sn Paphos was a city on the southwestern coast of the island of Cyprus. See Acts 13:6.

[13:13]  ⁵⁸ sn Perga was a city in Pamphylia near the southern coast of Asia Minor. The journey from Paphos to Perga is about 105 mi (175 km).

[13:13]  ⁵⁹ sn Pamphylia was a province in the southern part of Asia Minor.

[13:13]  ⁶⁰ sn That is, John Mark.

[13:13]  ⁶¹ sn Returned to Jerusalem. John Mark had originally accompanied them from Jerusalem (see Acts 12:25). John Mark’s decision to leave became an issue later for Barnabas and Paul (Acts 15:36-39).

[15:38]  ⁶² tn BDAG 94 s.v. ἀξιόω 2.a has “he insisted (impf.) that they should not take him along” for this phrase.

[15:38]  ⁶³ sn Pamphylia was a province in the southern part of Asia Minor. See Acts 13:13, where it was mentioned previously.

[15:39]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “There happened a sharp disagreement.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[15:39]  ⁶⁵ tn BDAG 780 s.v. παροξυσμός 2 has “sharp disagreement” here; L&N 33.451 has “sharp argument, sharp difference of opinion.”

[15:39]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “taking along Mark sailed.” The participle παραλαβόντα (paralabonta) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[15:39]  ⁶⁷ sn Cyprus is a large island in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Asia Minor.