Genesis 25:30

25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed ¹  me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called ²  Edom.) ³ 

Genesis 36:43

36:43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements ⁴  in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Genesis 45:8

45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁵  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:1

The Reconciliation of the Brothers

45:1 Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, ⁶  so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained ⁷  with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.

Genesis 4:14

4:14 Look! You are driving me off the land ⁸  today, and I must hide from your presence. ⁹  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

[25:30]  ¹ tn The rare term לָעַט (la’at), translated “feed,” is used in later Hebrew for feeding animals (see Jastrow, 714). If this nuance was attached to the word in the biblical period, then it may depict Esau in a negative light, comparing him to a hungry animal. Famished Esau comes in from the hunt, only to enter the trap. He can only point at the red stew and ask Jacob to feed him.

[25:30]  ² tn The verb has no expressed subject and so is given a passive translation.

[25:30]  ³ sn Esau’s descendants would eventually be called Edom. Edom was the place where they lived, so-named probably because of the reddish nature of the hills. The writer can use the word “red” to describe the stew that Esau gasped for to convey the nature of Esau and his descendants. They were a lusty, passionate, and profane people who lived for the moment. Again, the wordplay is meant to capture the “omen in the nomen.”

[36:43]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “territories”; Heb “dwelling places.”

[45:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[45:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “all the ones standing beside him.”

[45:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “stood.”

[4:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “from upon the surface of the ground.”

[4:14]  ⁹ sn I must hide from your presence. The motif of hiding from the Lord as a result of sin also appears in Gen 3:8-10.