Genesis 32:5

32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent ¹  this message ²  to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

Genesis 32:18

32:18 then you must say, ³  ‘They belong ⁴  to your servant Jacob. ⁵  They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. ⁶  In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” ⁷ 

[32:5]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:18]  ³ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive; it has the nuance of an imperfect of instruction.

[32:18]  ⁴ tn The words “they belong” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “to your servant, to Jacob.”

[32:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to my lord, to Esau.”

[32:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “and look, also he [is] behind us.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.