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Genesis 32:4-6
New English Translation
Genesis 32:4-6
New English Translation
4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant[a] Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.[b] 5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent[c] this message[d] to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said, “We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has 400 men with him.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 32:4 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.
- Genesis 32:4 tn Heb “Laban and have lingered until now.”
- Genesis 32:5 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.
- Genesis 32:5 tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
New English Translation (NET)
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