Genesis 32:3-8

32:3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead ¹  to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region ²  of Edom. 32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ³  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now. 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent ⁴  this message ⁵  to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.” 32:7 Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. 32:8 “If Esau attacks one camp,” ⁶  he thought, ⁷  “then the other camp will be able to escape.” ⁸ 

[32:3]  ¹ tn Heb “before him.”

[32:3]  ² tn Heb “field.”

[32:4]  ³ sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.

[32:5]  ⁵ tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense – as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows – much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.

[32:5]  ⁶ tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.”

[32:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he said, ‘If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it.” The Hebrew verb אָמַר (’amar) here represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “he thought.” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “the surviving camp will be for escape.” The word “escape” is a feminine noun. The term most often refers to refugees from war.