He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.
Parallel Translations
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He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.
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And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
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(32-5) And he commanded them, saying: 'Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Genesis 32:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Peter 3:6 So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror.
- Genesis 4:7 If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”
- Genesis 23:6 “Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”
- Genesis 27:29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you.”
- Genesis 27:37 Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you, my son?”
- Genesis 32:5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”
- Genesis 32:18 Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’ ”
- Genesis 33:8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” Jacob said, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.”
- Exodus 32:22 Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
- 1 Samuel 26:17 Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.”
- 1 Kings 20:32 So they put sackcloth on their bodies and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, “Your servant Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
- Proverbs 6:3 Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.
- Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
- Ecclesiastes 10:4 If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, don’t leave your place; for gentleness lays great offenses to rest.
- Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau.…
4. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau. Moses here relates the anxiety of Jacob to appease his brother. For this suppliant deprecation was extorted only by great and severe torture of mind. It seems, however, to be an absurd submission, whereby he cedes to his brother that dominion for which he had contended at the hazard of his life. For if Esau has the primogeniture, what does Jacob reserve for himself? For what end did he bring upon himself such hatred, expose himself to such dangers, and at length endure twenty years of banishment, if he does not refuse to be in subjection to his brother? I answer, that though he gives up the temporal dominion, he yields nothing of his right to the secret benediction. He knows that the effect of the divine promise is still suspended: and therefore, being content with the hope of the future inheritance, he does not hesitate, at present, to prefer his brother in honor to himself, and to profess himself his brother’s servant. Nor was there anything feigned in these words; because he was willing to bear his brother on his shoulders; so that he might not lose his own future right, which was as yet concealed.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He reverenced his brother in worldly things, because he…
He reverenced his brother in worldly things, because he chiefly looked to be preferred to the spiritual promise.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 32:4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall…
Gen 32:4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:
Ver. 4. Unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob, &c.] This was not baseness of spirit, much less a renouncing of his birthright and blessing; but a necessary submission for a time, such as was that of David to Saul, {1Sa 24:7; 1Sa 24:9} till the prophecy of his superiority should be fulfilled. That was baseness in the Samaritans, that in writing to Antiochus Epiphanes, that great king of Syria, because he tormented the Jews, to excuse themselves that they were no Jews they styled him, Antiochus the mighty God: {a} the Scripture styles him "a vile person". {Dan 11:21} So was that also in Teridates, king of the Parthians, who, with bended knee and hands held up, worshipped Nero, and thus bespake that monster of mankind: To thee I come as to my god; and thee I adore as I do the sun: what thou decreest of me, I will be and do; for thou art to me both fate and fortune &c. {b} And what shall we think of those superstitious Sicilians, who, when they were excommunicated by Pope Martin IV, laid themselves prostrate at his feet, and cried; - O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace. The Venetians also, being excommunicated by Pope Clemens V, {c} could not be absolved till such time as their ambassador Dandalus had not only fallen at the Pope’s feet, but lain also under his table as a dog with an iron chain about his neck, feeding on such scraps as were cast unto him. {d} Had this dog dealt by the Pope as the Earl of Wiltshire’s spaniel did, he had served him but right. This earl, with Doctor Cranmer, and others, being sent ambassador to Rome about King Henry’s divorce; when he should have kissed the Pope’s foot, his spaniel, as though he had been of purpose appointed thereunto, went and caught the Pope by the great toe, which the spaniel haply mistook for some kind of repast. {e} But this by the way only. What hard servitude kings and emperors were forced to undergo in former times, and how basely to avile {f} themselves to the beast of Rome, is better known than that it need to be here related. Henry II of England, Henry IV of France, and Henry, the fourth Emperor of Germany, for instance. This last came, in the midst of a sore winter, upon his bare feet, to the gates of the Castle of Canusium, and stood there fasting from morning to night for three days together, waiting for the Pope’s judicial sentence, and craving his pardon: which yet he could not obtain by his own or others’ tears, or by the intercession of any saint, save only of a certain harlot, with whom the Pope was then taking his carnal pleasure. {g} The good emperor mistook who thought that the Pope could be pacified by fasting and prayer. This god required another kind of sacrifice than these. And here that of Solomon was fulfilled, "I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth". {Ecc 10:7}
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{a} Josephus.
{b} Hλθον προς σε τον εμον θεον, προσκυνησων σε, ως και τον Mιθραν, και εσομαι τουτο οτι αν συ επικλωσης συ γαρ μοι και μοιρα ει και τυχη. - Dio in Vita Neronis.
{c} Jac. Rev., De Vitis Pontif., p. 198.
{d} Unde ei Canis cognomentum apud suos. - Ibid.
{e} Act. and Mon., fol. 1690.
{f} [Abase.]
{g} Brightm., Upon the Revel., fol. 449.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain My lord Esau; which title being but a civil…
My lord Esau; which title being but a civil respect commonly given in Scripture to such persons as have no authority nor superiority over them who use it, as Gen 23:6; 24:18, Jacob doth not hereby renounce his right of primogeniture which was devolved upon him, nor return it to Esau. Nor if he did hereby acknowledge Esau his superior for the present, would this have been injurious to that right, because Jacob was not yet in actual possession of it, for it was not to commence till his father's death; and indeed did more belong to his posterity than to his person; and as to his person, did more respect his spiritual advantages than his worldly greatness. See Gen 27:29.
I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now, as a stranger and exile, and so a more proper object for thy pity than for thy envy.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And he commanded them,.... Being his servants:
And he commanded them,.... Being his servants:
saying, thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; being not only a lord of a country, but his eldest brother, and whom he chose to bespeak in this manner, to soften his mind, and incline it to him; and that he might see he did not pique himself upon the birthright and blessing he had obtained; and as if these were forgotten by him, though hereby he does not give up his right in them:
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thy servant Jacob saith thus, expressing great humility and modesty; for though his father Isaac by his blessing had made him lord over Esau, the time was not come for this to take place, his father not being yet dead; and besides, was to have its accomplishment not in his own person, but in his posterity:
I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now; had been a sojourner and a servant in Laban's family for twenty years past, and had had an hard master, and therefore could not be the object of his brother's envy, but rather of his pity and compassion.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He calls Esau his Lord, himself his servant, to…
He calls Esau his Lord, himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist upon the prerogatives of the birth-right and blessing he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. He gives him a short account of himself, that he was not a fugitive and a vagabond, but though long absent had dwelt with his own relations. I have sojourned with Laban, and staid there till now: and that he was not a beggar, nor likely to be a charge to his relations; no, I have oxen and asses - This he knew would (if any thing) recommend him to Esau's good affection. And, he courts his favour; I have sent that I may find grace in thy sight - It is no disparagement to those that have the better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue for peace as well as right.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord…
Verse 4. Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau] Jacob acknowledges the superiority of his brother; for the time was not yet come in which it could be said, The elder shall serve the younger.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 32:4. Speak unto my lord Esau — He…
Gen 32:4. Speak unto my lord Esau — He calls Esau his lord, and himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist on the prerogatives of the birthright and blessing which he had obtained for himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed. And he gives him a short account of himself and of his property, and where he had sojourned, expressing withal a desire for his favour and friendship.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau--The purport…
Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau--The purport of the message was that, after a residence of twenty years in Mesopotamia, he was now returning to his native land, that he did not need any thing, for he had abundance of pastoral wealth, but that he could not pass without notifying his arrival to his brother and paying the homage of his respectful obeisance. Acts of civility tend to disarm opposition and soften hatred (Ecc 10:4).
Thy servant Jacob--He had been made lord over his brethren (compare Gen 27:29). But it is probable he thought this referred to a spiritual superiority; or if to temporal, that it was to be realized only to his posterity. At all events, leaving it to God to fulfil that purpose, he deemed it prudent to assume the most kind and respectful bearing.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. my lord Esau] Jacob adopts the language of…
4. my lord Esau] Jacob adopts the language of extreme courtesy and respect. Cf. Gen_18:3, Gen_43:20, Gen_44:18.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 4, 5. And he commanded them, saying, Thus…
Vers. 4, 5. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus; the expression "my lord "may have been designed to intimate to Esau that he (Jacob) did not intend to assert that superiority or precedency which had been assigned him by Isaac s blessing, (Gen_27:29) at least so far as to claim a share in Isaac"s wealth (Calvin, Bush, Gerlach), but was probably due chiefly to the extreme courtesy of the East (Gerlach), or to a desire to conciliate his brother (Keil), or to a feeling of personal contrition for his misbehavior towards Esau (Kalisch), and perhaps also to a secret apprehension of danger from Esau"s approach (Alford, Inglis)I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed rjaee fut. Kal. of rja curring only here, is a contraction for rjaa, like qseTo for qseaTo (Psa_104:29; vide Gesenius, 2) there until now: and I have (literally, there are to me, so that I stand in need of no further wealth from either thee or Isaac) oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and women servants: cf. 12:16 (Abraham); 26:13, 14 (Isaac)and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight (cf. 33:8, 15; 39:4; and vide 6:8; 18:3).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.