Genesis 32:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר רָאָ֔ם מַחֲנֵ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים זֶ֑ה וַיִּקְרָ֛א שֵֽׁם־הַמָּק֥וֹם הַה֖וּא מֽ͏ַחֲנָֽיִם׃ פ

Transliteration

wə-yōʾmer yaʿăqōb ka-ʾăšer rāʾām camp-of ʾĕlōhîm zeh wə-yiqrāʾ šēm-the-place the-that maḥănāyim.

Grammar Details

• *wə-yōʾmer*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - and he said
• *ka-ʾăšer*: preposition + relative particle - when, as
• *rāʾām*: Qal perfect, 3rd masculine singular + 3rd masculine plural suffix - he saw them
• *zeh*: demonstrative adjective, masculine singular - this
• *wə-yiqrāʾ*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - and he called
• *šēm*: masculine singular construct - name of
• *maḥănāyim*: masculine dual noun - two camps/hosts

Word Meanings

• *yōʾmer*: to say, to declare, to utter
• *rāʾām*: to see, to perceive, to observe
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: God, gods, divine beings, judges
• *yiqrāʾ*: to call, to name, to proclaim, to recite
• *maḥănāyim*: two camps, two companies, dual hosts

Referenced Verses

• Gen 25:30 : 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Give me a full meal of that red soup, for I am overcome with need for food: for this reason he was named Edom.
• Josh 24:4 : 4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau: to Esau I gave Mount Seir, as his heritage; but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
• Gen 33:14 : 14 Do you, my lord, go on before your servant; I will come on slowly, at the rate at which the cattle and the children are able to go, till I come to my lord at Seir.
• Deut 2:5 : 5 Make no attack on them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even space enough for a man's foot: because I have given Mount Seir to Esau for his heritage.
• Gen 14:6 : 6 And the Horites in their mountain Seir, driving them as far as El-paran, which is near the waste land.
• Deut 2:22 : 22 As he did for the children of Esau living in Seir, when he sent destruction on the Horites before them, and they took their land where they are living to this day:
• Gen 33:16 : 16 So Esau, turning back that day, went on his way to Seir.
• Gen 36:6-9 : 6 Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the people of his house, and his beasts and his cattle and all his goods which he had got together in the land of Canaan, and went into the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their wealth was so great that the land was not wide enough for the two of them and all their cattle. 8 So Esau made his living-place in the hill-country of Seir (Esau is Edom). 9 And these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in the hill-country of Seir:
• Gen 27:41-42 : 41 So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death. 42 Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.
• Mal 3:1 : 1 See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.
• Luke 9:52 : 52 And he sent men before: and they came to a small town of Samaria to make ready for him.
• Luke 14:31-32 : 31 Or what king, going to war with another king, will not first take thought if he will be strong enough, with ten thousand men, to keep off him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or while the other is still a great distance away, he sends representatives requesting conditions of peace.