Notes for Gen 33:1LEB
"and Jacob lifted up his eyes."
Or "and look, Esau was coming." By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, "look"), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
Notes for Gen 33:2LEB
This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable.
Notes for Gen 33:3LEB
"and he"; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"until his drawing near unto his brother." The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.
Notes for Gen 33:5LEB
"and he"; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"lifted up his eyes."
"and he"; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
The Hebrew verb means "to be gracious; to show favor"; here it carries the nuance "to give graciously."
Notes for Gen 33:6LEB
"and the female servants drew near, they and their children and they bowed down."
Notes for Gen 33:8LEB
"and he"; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"Who to you?"
"all this camp which I met."
"and he"; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Notes for Gen 33:10LEB
"and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’" The words "take them" have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.
The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the "then" section of the conditional sentence.
The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.
"for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of Yahweh and you have accepted me."
This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22–31) in which Jacob saw the face of Yahweh and realized his prayer was answered.
Notes for Gen 33:11LEB
"blessing." It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.
Or "gracious," but in the specific sense of prosperity.
"all."
"and he urged him and he took." The referent of the first pronoun in the sequence ("he") has been specified as "Jacob" in the translation for clarity.
Notes for Gen 33:12LEB
"and he"; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"let us travel and let us go." The two cohortatives are used in combination with the sense, "let’s travel along, get going, be on our way."
Notes for Gen 33:13LEB
"he"; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
"weak."
"and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me."
Notes for Gen 33:14LEB
"and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children."
Notes for Gen 33:15LEB
The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.
"and he said, ‘Why this?’" The referent of the pronoun "he" (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
"I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord."
Notes for Gen 33:16LEB
"returned on his way."
Notes for Gen 33:17LEB
The disjunctive clause contrasts Jacob’s action with Esau’s.
But Jacob traveled to Succoth. There are several reasons why Jacob chose not to go to Mt. Seir after Esau. First, as he said, his herds and children probably could not keep up with the warriors. Second, he probably did not fully trust his brother. The current friendliness could change, and he could lose everything. And third, Yahweh did tell him to return to his land, not Seir. But Jacob is still not able to deal truthfully, probably because of fear of Esau.
"why he called." One could understand "Jacob" as the subject of the verb, but it is more likely that the subject is indefinite, in which case the verb is better translated as passive.
The name Succoth means "shelters," an appropriate name in light of the shelters Jacob built there for his livestock.
Notes for Gen 33:18LEB
"in front of."
Notes for Gen 33:19LEB
The words "he bought it" are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 19 is one long sentence.
The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qésitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown. (However, cf. REB, which renders the term as "sheep").
Notes for Gen 33:20LEB
"Yahweh, the Yahweh of Israel." Rather than translating the name, a number of modern translations merely transliterate it from the Hebrew as "El Elohe Israel" (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB). It is not entirely clear how the name should be interpreted grammatically. One option is to supply an equative verb, as in the translation: "The Yahweh of Israel [is] Yahweh." Another interpretive option is "the Yahweh of Israel [is] strong [or "mighty"]." Buying the land and settling down for a while was a momentous step for the patriarch, so the commemorative naming of the altar is significant.