Genesis 33:8

Summary

Esau questions Jacob about the identity or purpose of the large group of people/animals he has encountered, asking literally "who/what belongs to you [is] all this camp." Jacob answers that its purpose is to find favor in the eyes of "my lord" — a deferential term Jacob uses for Esau.

Key words

• mi ("who?", H4310) — interrogative pronoun opening Esau's question; combined idiomatically with lekha ("to you") it asks about ownership, identity, or purpose rather than a simple "who."
• machaneh ("camp", H4264) — feminine singular noun with definite article and demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088), referring to the entire group as one collective unit.
• pagashti ("I have met", H6298) — qal perfect, first person, marking a completed action; the relative particle asher ("which", H0834A) attaches this clause to "the camp," describing what Esau encountered.
• limtzo ("to find", H4672) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition le- ("to"), expressing purpose: the aim of the camp's presence.
• adoni ("my lord", H0113) — construct noun with first-person suffix, a term of deference Jacob applies to Esau in the third person.

What the text says

The verse is built as a rapid exchange marked by two occurrences of the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), without explicit naming of the speakers — their identity is inferred from context. Esau's question uses mi lekha ("who [is] to you", H4310 + H9005/H9031) with kol-hamachaneh hazeh ("all this camp", H3605 + H4264 + H2088) as its subject, an idiom that asks about the meaning or ownership of what he has encountered, described by the relative clause asher pagashti ("which I have met", H0834A + H6298).

Jacob's reply is a single infinitival clause: limtzo-chen be-einei adoni ("to find favor in the eyes of my lord", H4672 + H2580 + H5869H + H0113). The construct chain einei adoni ("eyes of my lord") ties the abstract noun chen ("favor", H2580) to Esau's perception, and the third-person suffix adoni ("my lord") signals Jacob referring to Esau formally rather than addressing him directly with "you."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Esau's question as "Τί ταῦτά σοί ἐστιν" ("what are these to you"), replacing the Hebrew interrogative mi ("who", H4310) with "what," and it pluralizes "camps" (παρεμβολαὶ) where the Hebrew machaneh ("camp", H4264) is singular. The LXX also inserts "ὁ παῖς σου" ("your servant") as an explicit subject for Jacob's answer, not present in the Hebrew, and shifts "ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου" ("in your eyes") to second person, where the Hebrew has be-einei adoni ("in the eyes of my lord", third person). The Vulgate similarly names "Esau" explicitly as speaker and renders the camp as plural "turmæ" ("companies"), diverging from the Hebrew's singular collective noun.