Genesis 33:12

The NET Bible®

Then Esau said, "Let's be on our way! I will go in front of you."

Parallel Translations

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he saide, Let vs take our iourney and go, and I will goe before thee.

George Lamsa Translation
Then Esau said to him, Let us depart, and go, and I will go before you.

Good News Translation
Esau said, "Let's get ready and leave. I will go ahead of you."

Complete Jewish Bible
‘Esav said, "Let's break camp and get going. I'll go first."

Darby Translation
And he said, Let us take our journey, and go on, and I will go before thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then Esau said, "Now you can continue your journey. I will go with you."

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said: 'Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.'

King James Version (1611)
And he said, Let vs take our iourney, and let vs goe, and I will goe before thee.

Bible in Basic English
And he said, Let us go on our journey together, and I will go in front.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he saide: let vs take our iourney, and go, I wyll go before thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he said, Let us depart, and proceed right onward.

English Revised Version
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

Berean Standard Bible
Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way, and I will go ahead of you."

Contemporary English Version
"Let's get ready to travel," Esau said. "I'll go along with you."

Hebrew Names Version
Esav said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you."

THE MESSAGE
Then Esau said, "Let's start out on our way; I'll take the lead."

New American Standard Bible
Then Esau said, "Let's journey on and go, and I will go ahead of you."

English Standard Version
Then Esau said, "Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of you."

Christian Standard Bible®
Then Esau said, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.”

King James Version
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

Lexham English Bible
Then he said, "Let us journey and go on, and I will go ahead of you."

Amplified Bible
Then Esau said, "Let us get started on our journey and I will go in front of you [to lead the way]."

American Standard Version
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

Literal Translation
And he said, Let us depart and go, and I will go with you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he sayde: Let vs go on and take oure iourney, I wyll go in thy company.

New Century Version
Then Esau said, "Let us be going. I will travel with you."

New King James Version
Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then he said, Let us break up and go, and let me go on before thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And said: Let us go on together, and I will accompany thee in thy journey.

Revised Standard Version
Then Esau said, "Let us journey on our way, and I will go before you."

New Living Translation
"Well," Esau said, "let's be going. I will lead the way."

New Life Bible
Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way. I will go with you."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
he resseyuede, and seide, Go we to gidere, and Y schal be felowe of thi weie.

Young's Literal Translation
and saith, `Let us journey and go on, and I go on before thee.'

Update Bible Version
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

New Revised Standard
Then Esau said, "Let us journey on our way, and I will go alongside you."

World English Bible
Esau said, "Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before you."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you."

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Esau said, "Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you."

Contextual Overview

⁵ When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he asked, "Who are these people with you?" Jacob replied, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant." ⁶ The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down. ⁷ Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down. ⁸ Esau then asked, "What did you intend by sending all these herds to meet me?" Jacob replied, "To find favor in your sight, my lord." ⁹ But Esau said, "I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you." ¹⁰ "No, please take them," Jacob said. "If I have found favor in your sight, accept my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, it is as if I have seen the face of God. ¹¹ Please take my present that was brought to you, for God has been generous to me and I have all I need." When Jacob urged him, he took it. ¹² Then Esau said, "Let's be on our way! I will go in front of you." ¹³ But Jacob said to him, "My lord knows that the children are young, and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said, let us take our journey, and let us go,.... To Seir, where Esau lived, and whither he invited Jacob to stop a while, and refresh himself and his family:

and I will go before thee; to show him the way to his palace, and to protect him on the road from all dangers; or "besides thee" q, alongside of him, keeping equal pace with him, thereby showing great honour and respect, as well as in order to converse with him as they, travelled.

q לנגדך "e regione tui", Montanus, Fagius, Drusius; "a latere tuo", Vatablus; "juxta te", Cartwright.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- Jacob and Esau Meet

17. סכת sûkkôth, Sukkoth, “booths,” consisting of poles forming a roof covered with branches, leaves, or grass.

19. חמור chămôr Chamor, “ass, red, heap.” קשׂיטה q^eśı̂yṭâh Qesitah, weighed or measured. Ἀμνὸς Amnos, Septuagint and Onkelos

Jacob has a friendly interview with Esau, and re-+enters Kenaan.

Genesis 33:1-3

Jacob, upon seeing Esau approach with his four hundred men, advances with circumspection and lowly obeisance. He divided his family, arranged them according to their preciousness in his eyes, and walks himself in front. In drawing near, he bows seven times, in token of complete submission to his older brother. Esau, the wild hunter, is completely softened, and manifests the warmest affection, which is reciprocated by Jacob. The puncta extraordinaria over וישׁקהוּ vayı̂shēqēhû, “and kissed him,” seemingly intimating a doubt of the reading or of the sincerity of Esau, are wholly unwarranted. Esau then observes the women and children, and inquires who they are. Jacob replies that God had granted, graciously bestowed on him, these children. They approach in succession, and do obeisance. Esau now inquires of the caravan or horde he had already met. He had heard the announcement of the servants; but he awaited the confirmation of the master. “To find grace in the eyes of my lord.” Jacob values highly the good-will of his brother. The acceptance of this present is the security for that good-will, and for all the safety and protection which it involved. Esau at first declines the gift, but on being urged by Jacob accepts it, and thereby relieves Jacob of all his anxiety. His brother is now his friend indeed. “Therefore, have I seen thy face,” that I might give thee this token of my affection. “As if I had seen the face of God.” The unexpected kindness with which his brother had received him was a type and proof of the kindness of the All-provident, by whom it had been added to all his other mercies. My blessing; my gift which embodies my good wishes. I have all; not only enough, but all that I can wish.

Genesis 33:12-16

They now part for the present. “I will qo with thee;” as an escort or vanguard. Jacob explains that this would be inconvenient for both parties, as his tender children and suckling cattle could not keep pace with Esau’s men, who were used to the road. “At the pace of the cattle;” as fast as the business (מלאכה melā'kâh) of traveling with cattle will permit. Unto Selr. Jacob is travelling to the land of Kenaan, and to the residence of his father. But, on arriving there, it will be his first duty to return the fraternal visit of Esau. The very circumstance that he sent messengers to apprise his brother of his arrival, implies that he was prepared to cultivate friendly relations with him. Jacob also declines the offer of some of the men that Esau had with him. He had, doubtless, enough of hands to manage his remaining flock, and he now relied more than ever on the protection of that God who had ever proved himself a faithful and effectual guardian.

Genesis 33:17

“Sukkoth” was south of the Jabbok, and east of the Jordan, as we learn from Judges 8:4-9. From the same passage it appears to have been nearer the Jordan than Penuel, which was at the ford of Jahbok. Sukkoth cannot therefore, be identified with Sakut, which Robinson finds on the other side of the Jordan, about ten miles north of the mouth of the Jabbok. “And built him a house.” This indicates a permanent residence. Booths, or folds, composed of upright stakes wattled together, and sheltered with leafy branches. The closed space in the text is properly introduced here, to indicate the pause in the narrative, while Jacob sojourned in this place. Dinah, who is not noticed on the journey, was now not more than six years of age. Six or seven years more, therefore, must have elapsed before the melancholy events of the next chapter took place. In the interval, Jacob may have visited his father, and even returned the visit of Esau.

Genesis 33:18-20

Jacob at length crosses the Jordan, and enters again the land of Kenaan. “In peace.” The original word (שׁלם shālēm “safe, in peace”) is rendered Shalem, the name of the town at which Jacob arrived, by the Septuagint. The rendering safe, or in peace, is here adopted, because (1) the word is to be taken as a common noun or adjective, unless there be a clear necessity for a proper name; (2) “the place” was called Shekem in the time of Abraham Genesis 12:6, and the “town” is so designated in the thirty-fifth chapter Genesis 35:4; and (3) the statement that Jacob arrived in safety accounts for the additional clauses, “which is in the land of Kenaan,” and “when he went from Padan-aram,” and is in accordance with the promise Genesis 28:21 that he would return in peace. If, however, the Salim found by Robinson to the west of Nablous be the present town, it must be called the city of Shekem, because it belonged to the Shekem mentioned in the following verse and chapter. “Pitched before the city.”

Jacob did not enter into the city, because his flocks and herds could not find accommodation there, and he did not want to come into close contact with the inhabitants. “He bought a parcel of the field.” He is anxious to have a place he may call his own, where he may have a permanent resting-place. “For a hundred kesitahs.” The kesitah may have been a piece of silver or gold, of a certain weight, equal in value to a lamb (see Gesenius). “El-Elohe-Israel.” Jacob consecrates his ground by the erection of an altar. He calls it the altar of the Mighty One, the God of Israel, in which he signalizes the omnipotence of him who had brought him in safety to the land of promise through many perils, the new name by which he himself had been lately designated, and the blessed communion which now existed between the Almighty and himself. This was the very spot where Abraham, about one hundred and eighty-five years ago, built the first altar he erected in the promised land Genesis 12:6-7. It is now consecrated anew to the God of promise.