Passage

Genesis 32.1-2

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim."

"3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now:" (Genesis 32:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim."

"3. Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. 4. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now." (Genesis 32:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. ^{Mahanaim: that is, Two hosts, or, camps}"

"3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ^{country: Heb. field} 4. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:" (Genesis 32:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And Jacob hath gone on his way, and messengers of God come upon him; 2. and Jacob saith, when he hath seen them, 'This [is] the camp of God;' and he calleth the name of that place 'Two Camps.'"

"3. And Jacob sendeth messengers before him unto Esau his brother, towards the land of Seir, the field of Edom, 4. and commandeth them, saying, 'Thus do ye say to my lord, to Esau: Thus said thy servant Jacob, With Laban I have sojourned, and I tarry until now;" (Genesis 32:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

TBD
TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

_log-archive-2026-05

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.