Genesis 32:8

Summary

The verse reports Jacob's reasoning as he divides his group into two camps: he states that if Esau attacks the one camp, the remaining camp will survive as an escaped remnant. The sentence is structured as a conditional (protasis-apodosis) embedded in direct speech introduced by va-yomer ("and he said", H0559).

Key words

• ya.Vo' ("he will come", H0935G) — qal imperfect, expressing a hypothetical/future action within the conditional clause introduced by 'im ("if", H0518A).
• hi.Ka.hu ("he will attack it", H5221 + H9033) — hiphil (causative) form with sequential perfect and a 3rd person masculine singular suffix ("it/him"), continuing the conditional sequence begun by ya.Vo'; the hiphil stem indicates Esau causes the strike on the camp.
• ha.Yah ("it will become", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, marking the apodosis (the resulting outcome) of the conditional structure: "then it will become...".
• nish.'Ar ("remains", H7604) — niphal participle (passive/reflexive), describing the camp as "the one being left/remaining," modifying ma.cha.Neh ("camp", H4264).
• li.f.lei.Tah ("into an escaped remnant", H9005 + H6413) — preposition li ("into") + noun f.lei.Tah ("escaped remnant"), indicating the resulting state/purpose of the surviving camp.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure follows a classic conditional pattern: 'im ("if") + imperfect verb (ya.Vo') sets up the protasis, followed by a sequential perfect (ve.hi.Ka.hu) that continues the hypothetical action ("and attacks it"). The apodosis begins with another sequential perfect, ve.ha.Yah ("and it will become"), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax typically signals the consequence clause after a conditional protasis built on imperfect + sequential perfects.

The object camp in the protasis is marked with the definite article and the numeral ha.'a.Chat ("the one", H0259), literally "the camp, the one [of the two]," distinguishing it from the surviving camp described in the apodosis as ha.ma.cha.neh ha.nish.'ar ("the camp, the remaining one"), using the niphal participle nish.'Ar to denote the passive state of "being left over." The final phrase li.f.lei.Tah ("into an escaped remnant") uses the preposition li to indicate the resulting condition or purpose — the surviving camp becomes an escaped remnant, rather than simply "escaping" as an action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha.ma.cha.neh ha.nish.'ar ("the camp, the remaining one") as ἡ παρεμβολὴ ἡ δευτέρα ("the second camp"), using an ordinal number where the Hebrew uses a participle describing a state (remaining/left over). The Vulgate's alia turma quae relicta est ("the other troop, which has been left") more closely mirrors the Hebrew participle nish.'Ar with its relative clause construction "quae relicta est" ("which was left").