Genesis 32:11

Summary

Jacob asks God for deliverance from his brother Esau, giving as the reason his fear (yare, "fearing", H3373) that Esau will come and strike him along with the group described as "mother with children" ('em 'al-banim). The verse combines an urgent imperative petition with a subordinate clause explaining the danger.

Key words

• hatzileni ("deliver me", H5337) — hiphil (causative) imperative: a direct, urgent command form, "cause [me] to be delivered," intensified by the particle na' ("please", H4994).
• 'achi ("my brother", H0251G) — noun in construct form with 1st person suffix, forming a possessive chain "brother-of-me"; the phrase is repeated with Esav for emphasis (miyyad 'achi... miyyad 'Esav, "from the hand of my brother... from the hand of Esau").
• yare' ("fearing", H3373) — qal participle, expressing an ongoing state rather than a single completed action: "I am [in a state of] fearing," not merely "I feared once."
• pen ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose/result clause, setting up the feared scenario that follows.
• hikkani ("he will strike me", H5221) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect with 1st person suffix, continuing the narrative sequence begun by yavo' ("he should come", H0935G): "he will come and strike me."

What the text says

The verse opens with a doubled imperative-plus-particle construction, hatzileni na' ("deliver me, please"), followed by a doubled prepositional phrase miyyad 'achi miyyad 'Esav ("from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau"). The repetition of miyyad ("from the hand of", H3027H) with both 'achi ("my brother") and 'Esav ("Esau") in apposition creates emphasis, naming the same person twice — first by relation, then by name.

The causal clause ki-yare' 'anokhi 'oto ("for I am fearing him") uses a qal participle rather than a finite perfect verb, marking a continuing emotional state at the moment of speech rather than a past event. The following clause, introduced by pen ("lest"), presents a feared outcome in two sequential verbs: yavo' ("he should come," qal imperfect) and hikkani ("he will strike me," hiphil sequential perfect) — a standard Hebrew narrative chain where the imperfect sets up a future/potential action continued by the perfect with vav.

The final phrase, 'em 'al-banim ("mother with/upon children"), follows directly after hikkani ("he will strike me") without a coordinating conjunction in the Hebrew, leaving open whether it stands in apposition to "me" or as an additional object of the same verb.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew sequence ve-hikkani 'em 'al-banim ("and he will strike me, mother with children") lacks a coordinating word between "me" and "mother with children." The LXX renders this with an explicit conjunction, kai ("and"), giving "strike me and mother upon children" (πατάξῃ με καὶ μητέρα ἐπὶ τέκνοις) — treating "me" and "mother with children" as two linked objects. The Vulgate, by contrast, has percutiat matrem cum filiis ("strike the mother with the sons"), omitting a separate rendering of the 1st-person suffix on hikkani ("he will strike me") and moving directly to "mother with sons" as the sole object.