The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
Parallel Translations
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The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
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And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
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(32-7) And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: 'We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.'
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Genesis 32:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 33:1 Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. He divided the children between Leah, Rachel, and the two servants.
- Genesis 27:40-41 You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you will shake his yoke from off your neck.” Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
- Genesis 32:8 and he said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape.”
- Genesis 32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me and the mothers with the children.
- Amos 5:19 As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. And the messengers returned. Esau advances to meet…
6. And the messengers returned. Esau advances to meet his brother with a feeling of benevolence: but Jacob, reflecting on his cruel ferocity, inflated spirits, and savage threats, expects no humanity from him. And the Lord willed that the mind of his servant should be oppressed by this anxiety for a time, although without any real cause, in order the more to excite the fervor of his prayer. For we know what coldness, on this point, security engenders. Therefore, lest our faith, being stirred up by no stimulants, should become torpid, God often suffers us to fear things which are not terrible in themselves. For although he anticipates our wishes, and opposes our evils, he yet conceals his remedies until he has exercised our faith. Meanwhile it is to be noted, that the sons of God are never endued with a constancy so steadfast, that the infirmity of the flesh does not betray itself in them. For they who fancy that faith is exempt from all fear, have had no experience of the true nature of faith. For God does not promise that he will be present with us for the purpose of removing the sense of our dangers, but in order that fear may not prevail, and overwhelm us in despair. Moreover our faith is never so firm at every point, as to repel wicked doubts and sinful fears, in the way that might be wished.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying,…
Gen 32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
Ver. 6. And four hundred men with him.] Four hundred cut-throats, as appears, Gen 32:8. And here, good Jacob is brought again into the briars. When he was well rid of his father-in-law, he thought all safe; and his joy was completed by the sight of that army of angels. Presently upon this, he is so damped and terrified with this sad message of Esau’s approach and hostile intentions, that he knows not what course to take to. Out of heaven he is thrust suddenly, as it were, into hell, saith Pareus. {a} This is the godly man’s case while here. Fluctus fluclum trudit: one trouble follows in the neck of another. {b} Ripen we apace, and so get to heaven, if we would be out of the gunshot, The ark was transportative, till settled in Solomon’s Temple; so, till we come to heaven, shall we be tossed up and down and turmoiled: "within" will be "fears, without fightings," {2Co 7:5} while we are in hoc exilio, in hoc ergastulo, in hac peregrinatione, in hac valle lachrymarum , as Bernard hath it; in this exile, in this purgatory, in this pilgrimage, in this vale of tears.
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{a} Ex coelo repente quasi in infernum detruditur.
{b} Pονος πονω πονον φερει
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 Esau gave them but an imperfect and a doubtful…
Esau gave them but an imperfect and a doubtful answer, as appears from Jacob’s fear, Gen 32:7. He brought
four hundred men with him; either as his usual guard, he being then a great man in those parts; or in ostentation of his power and greatness, in spite of all the injury which his father or brother did him; or because at first he designed mischief to Jacob, as may seem by his dismissing of his messengers without any testimony of his favour, though afterwards, upon Jacob’s prayer, God changed his mind.
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 the messengers returned to Jacob,.... After they had…
And the messengers returned to Jacob,.... After they had delivered their message, with the answer they brought back:
saying, we came to thy brother Esau; which, though not expressed, is implied in these words, and is still more manifest by what follows:
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and also he cometh to meet thee; and pay a friendly visit, as they supposed:
and four hundred men with him; partly to show his grandeur, and partly out of respect to Jacob, and to do honour to him; though some think this was done with an ill design upon him, and which indeed seems probable; and it is certain Jacob so understood it, as is evident by the distress it gave him, and by the methods he took for his safety, and by the gracious appearance of God unto him, and the strength he gave him on this occasion, not only to pray to and wrestle with him, but to prevail both with God and men, as the following account shows. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call these four hundred men leaders or generals of armies, which is not probable; they were most likely Esau's subjects, his tenants and servants.
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 cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men…
He cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him - He is now weary of waiting for the days of mourning for his father, and before those come resolves to slay his brother. Out he marches with four hundred men, probably such as used to hunt with him, armed no doubt, ready to execute the word of command.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Esau - cometh - and four hundred…
Verse 6. Esau - cometh - and four hundred men with him.] Jacob, conscious that he had injured his brother, was now apprehensive that he was coming with hostile intentions, and that he had every evil to fear from his displeasure. Conscience is a terrible accuser. It was a fine saying of a heathen, --
_____Hic murus aheneus esto,
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Nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.
HOR. Ep., l. i., E. i., v. 60.
Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,
Still to preserve thy conscious innocence,
Nor e'er turn pale with guilt. FRANCIS.
In other words, He that has a good conscience has a brazen wall for his defence; for a guilty conscience needs no accuser; sooner or later it will tell the truth, and not only make the man turn pale who has it, but also cause him to tremble even while his guilt is known only to himself and God.
It does not appear that Esau in this meeting had any hostile intention, but was really coming with a part of his servants or tribe to do his brother honour. If he had had any contrary intention, God had removed it; and the angelic host which Jacob met with before might have inspired him with sufficient confidence in God's protection. But we find that when he needed faith most, he appears to have derived but little benefit from its influence, partly from the sense he had of the injury he had done to his brother, and partly from not attending sufficiently to the assurance which God had given him of his gracious protection.
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 32:6-7. He cometh to meet thee, and four…
Gen 32:6-7. He cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him — He is now weary of waiting for the days of mourning for his father, and before they come resolves to slay thee. Then was Jacob greatly afraid and distressed — He was conscious how deeply he had offended his brother, and remembered the enmity which his brother cherished against him, and hence was not without an apprehension that he might now execute the threatened revenge. We see here how a consciousness of sin tends to weaken faith, and to produce fear and dread. For, notwithstanding the repeated experience Jacob had had of the divine protection; though he had just seen himself surrounded with a host of guardian angels; though he had undertaken his journey in obedience to God’s express command, and had God’s renewed promise to assure him of a safe return, (Gen 28:15; Gen 31:13,) yet a consciousness of having injured his brother, and of his brother’s having it in his power, should God permit him, to avenge himself, damps his faith, and fills him with the most painful and distressing apprehensions. A lively sense of danger, however, may very well consist with a degree of confidence in God’s power and goodness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Men. Jonathan has Polemarchoi; officers or warriors, either to…
Men. Jonathan has Polemarchoi; officers or warriors, either to punish Jacob, (Wisdom x. 12.) as the latter feared, ver. 11; or to do him honour, as Esau protested, chap. xxxiii. 15. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The messengers returned to Jacob--Their report left Jacob in…
The messengers returned to Jacob--Their report left Jacob in painful uncertainty as to what was his brother's views and feelings. Esau's studied reserve gave him reason to dread the worst. Jacob was naturally timid; but his conscience told him that there was much ground for apprehension, and his distress was all the more aggravated that he had to provide for the safety of a large and helpless family.
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 6. four hundred men] Where Esau was, and how…
6. four hundred men] Where Esau was, and how he had become the head of a force of four hundred men, is not related, but may have formed part of another narrative. His intentions, if not hostile, are suspicious (cf. Gen_33:4).
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 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came…
And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, (vide Gen_33:1) and four hundred men with him. That Esau was attended by 400 armed followers was a proof that he had grown to be a powerful chieftain. If the hypothesis be admissible that he had already begun to live by the, (Gen_27:40) and was now invading the territory of the Horites, which he afterwards occupied (Delitzsch, Keil, Kurtz), it will serve to explain his appearance in the land of Seir, while as yet he had not finally retired from Canaan. That he came with such a formidable force to meet his brother has been set down to personal vanity, or a desire to show how powerful a prince he had become (Lyra, Menochius); to fraternal kindness, which prompted him to do honor to his brother (Peele, Calvin, Clarke), to a distinctly hostile intention (Willet, Ainsworth, Candlish), at least if circumstances should seem to call for vengeance (Keil), though it is probable that Esau"s mind, on first hearing of his brother"s nearness, was simply excited, and "in that wavering state which the slightest incident might soothe into good will, or rouse into vengeance" (Murphy).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 four hundred men
four hundred men
"400 men" (See: Numbers)
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afraid
This refers to the unpleasant feeling a person has when there is a threat of harm to himself or others.
upset
distressed, troubled
to one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape
Here "camp" refers to the people. AT: "to attack the people in one camp, then the people in the other camp will escape" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Esau
fear
flocks
camel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.