Genesis 32:20

And be sure to say ‘Jacob, who wants to serve you, is coming behind us.’” Jacob told them to say that because he was thinking, “Perhaps these gifts that I am sending ahead of me will cause him to ◄act peacefully toward/stop being angry with► me. Then later, when I see him, perhaps he will be kind to me.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

In Context

19He also said the same thing to the servants who were taking care of the second and third groups, and to the other herdsmen. He said to them, “When you meet Esau, I want you to say to him the same thing that I told the first servant.

21So the men taking the gifts [PRS] went ahead, but Jacob himself stayed in the camp that night.

Read all of Genesis 32

Cross References

Genesis 43:11Then their father Jacob said to them, “If there is no other way, do this: Put in your sacks some of the best things that are grown in this land, and take them down to the man as a gift. Take some balm/perfume and honey and spices and myrrh/ointment, some pistachio nuts, and almonds.

1 Samuel 25:17So now you should think about it and decide what you can do. If you do not do something, terrible things will happen to our master and to all his family. Nabal is an extremely wicked man, with the result that he will not heed anyone when that person tries to tell him anything that he should do.”

Job 42:8So now you must take to Job seven young bulls and seven rams and kill them and burn them on the altar as a sacrifice for yourselves. Then Job will pray for you, and I will do what he requests me to do, and I will forgive you for speaking wrongly about me. I will not punish you, even though you deserve to be punished, because what you said about me was not right/true, but what Job said about me was right/true.”

Proverbs 15:18Those who quickly become angry cause arguments/quarreling, but those who do not quickly become angry cause people to act peacefully.

Proverbs 21:14When someone is angry with you, if you secretly give him a gift, he will stop being angry.

2 Timothy 2:25That is, they should gently instruct/teach people who oppose the true message. They should do that in order that perhaps God will cause others to completely change what they think, so that they may acknowledge/believe the true message.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 32:14-24

Jacob's Present to Esau. ( b. c. 1739.) 13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17 And he… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 32:20