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 33:8

33:8 Esau ³  then asked, “What did you intend ⁴  by sending all these herds to meet me?” ⁵  Jacob ⁶  replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.”

Genesis 33:15

33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” ⁷  “Why do that?” Jacob replied. ⁸  “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” ⁹ 

Genesis 34:11

34:11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s ¹⁰  father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me ¹¹  I’ll give. ¹² 

Genesis 39:4

39:4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. ¹³  Potiphar appointed Joseph ¹⁴  overseer of his household and put him in charge ¹⁵  of everything he owned.

[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.

[33:8]  ³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Who to you?”

[33:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”

[33:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:15]  ⁵ tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.

[33:15]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[34:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Dinah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “whatever you say.”

[34:11]  ⁹ tn Or “pay.”

[39:4]  ⁹ sn The Hebrew verb translated became his personal attendant refers to higher domestic service, usually along the lines of a personal attendant. Here Joseph is made the household steward, a position well-attested in Egyptian literature.

[39:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “put into his hand.”