Genesis 32:5

Summary

Jacob describes to his brother Esau the property he has accumulated during his absence — livestock and servants — and explains that he has sent this message so that he may gain Esau's goodwill. The verse combines a list of possessions with a stated purpose for the communication.

Key words

• vayehi ("it be[longs]", H1961) — qal narrative form, literally "and it became/was", used with the preposition li ("to me") to express possession idiomatically: "there came to be to me" rather than a direct verb "to have".
• 'esh'lechah ("I have sent", H7971G) — qal narrative verb with a paragogic he suffix, an emphatic ending that adds weight to the first-person action without changing its basic meaning.
• lehaggid ("to tell", H5046) — hiphil (causative) infinitive construct with the preposition le, expressing purpose: "in order to cause to be told" or "to declare".
• limtzo ("to find", H4672) — qal infinitive construct with le, paired with chen ("favor", H2580) to form the idiom "to find favor".
• 'eineikha ("your eyes", H5869H) — feminine dual noun in construct form with a second-person suffix, part of the fixed expression "in your eyes" meaning "in your judgment/view".

What the text says

The sentence opens with the idiomatic construction vayehi li — "it came to be to me" — rather than a verb meaning simply "to have." This is a common Biblical Hebrew way of expressing possession, treating the possessed items (ox, donkey, flock, servant, maidservant) as grammatical subjects of "to become" rather than as objects of "to have." Each item is listed in the singular but functions collectively, a feature common in Hebrew enumeration of livestock and household categories.

The second half of the verse shifts to Jacob's stated intention. The verb 'esh'lechah, marked with the emphatic paragogic he, introduces the act of sending the message. This is followed by two infinitive constructs joined by the preposition le: lehaggid ("to tell/declare," hiphil, causative in force) and limtzo ("to find"). The causative form of lehaggid suggests not merely informing but causing information to reach the recipient. The phrase limtzo chen be'eineikha ("to find favor in your eyes") is a fixed idiom expressing a request for goodwill, with "eyes" functioning as a metaphor for judgment or perception rather than literal sight.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders vayehi li ("it was to me") as ἐγένοντο μοι ("they became to me"), preserving the same idiomatic structure, while the Vulgate uses habeo ("I have"), a direct possessive verb replacing the Hebrew idiom. The LXX also explicitly names "Ἠσαύ" (Esau) as the lord addressed, a specification not present in the Hebrew text, which only has ladoni ("to my lord," H0113). Additionally, where the Hebrew leaves the subject of limtzo ("to find") implicit, the LXX supplies ὁ παῖς σου ("your servant") as the explicit subject, framing the request in third-person self-reference, whereas the Vulgate uses first-person inveniam ("I may find"), matching the Hebrew's implied first-person perspective more closely.