Genesis 32:20

32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” ¹  Jacob thought, ²  “I will first appease him ³  by sending a gift ahead of me. ⁴  After that I will meet him. ⁵  Perhaps he will accept me.” ⁶ 

Genesis 33:11

33:11 Please take my present ⁷  that was brought to you, for God has been generous ⁸  to me and I have all I need.” ⁹  When Jacob urged him, he took it. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 18:16

18:16 A person’s gift ¹¹  makes room for him,

and leads him ¹²  before important people.

[32:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”

[32:20]  ² tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”

[32:20]  ³ tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.

[32:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”

[32:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will see his face.”

[32:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.

[33:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “blessing.” It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.

[33:11]  ⁸ tn Or “gracious,” but in the specific sense of prosperity.

[33:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “all.”

[33:11]  ¹⁰ 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.

[18:16]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew term translated “gift” is a more general term than “bribe” (שֹׁחַד, shokhad), used in 17:8, 23. But it also has danger (e.g., 15:27; 21:14), for by giving gifts one might learn how influential they are and use them for bribes. The proverb simply states that a gift can expedite matters.

[18:16]  ¹² sn The two verbs here show a progression, helping to form the synthetic parallelism. The gift first “makes room” (יַרְחִיב, yarkhiv) for the person, that is, extending a place for him, and then “ushers him in” (יַנְחֵנּוּ, yakhenu) among the greats.