Genesis 33

Ἀναβλέψας, "having looked up," the one verb the Greek uses for the Masoretic version's "lifted his eyes" (again at 33:5). ἐπιδιεῖλεν, "distributed," for "halved" (וַיַּחַץ): Jacob shares the children out to their mothers rather than splitting the company in two, as he did at 32:7. The Greek sets ἐπί, "over," before Leah and Rachel (the second ἐπί is Swete's, from Alexandrinus) and none before "the two servant-girls," so that the servant-girls can be read as the last of the children's mothers or as distributed with the children; the Masoretic version has "over" three times. It also adds "his brother" and the second "Jacob" (seeded), and has αὐτός, "he," Swete's text, before the four hundred men.

τὰς δύο παιδίσκας, "the two servant-girls," where the Masoretic version reads "the maids," with no number; the alignment does not seed δύο, and it is marked as a plus. The Greek has ἐποίησεν, "made," for "put" (וַיָּשֶׂם), τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν, "their sons," for "their children" (יַלְדֵיהֶן), and ὀπίσω, "behind," an adverb, for the first "last" (אַחֲרֹנִים), so that the order runs first, behind, last, where the Masoretic version has first, last, last.

The Greek has the kiss before the fall on the neck (περιλαβὼν αὐτὸν ἐφίλησεν καὶ προσέπεσεν), where the Masoretic version has "embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him," and adds ἀμφότεροι, "both" (seeded). φιλέω with a person as the object of a greeting is "kiss" (148b). In the Masoretic text the word for "and kissed him" (וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ) carries the scribes' dots over its letters, and Genesis Rabbah 78:9 records readings that the kiss was not whole-hearted, or that it was; the Greek kisses without reserve. προσπίπτω, "fall against," is the verb of falling at or against a person (Luke 8:28); "fall upon" is ἐπιπίπτω's.

ἠλέησεν, "has had mercy on," for the Masoretic version's "has favored" (חָנַן): the Greek gives the gift of the children as mercy, the noun of the verb being ἔλεος "mercy" (Luke 1:50, 54, 58), and again at 33:11. It has Τί, "What," for "Who" (מִי), here and at 33:8.

The Greek asks "What are these to you, all these camps that I have met?", with ταῦτα, "these," seeded as a plus and the camp in the plural, where the Masoretic version reads "Who to you is all this camp that I came upon?": the Greek counts the droves of 32:16–19 as camps. In the answer it adds "your servant" (seeded) and has ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, κύριε, "in your eyes, lord," a direct address, for "in the eyes of my lord"; ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς is Swete's text from Alexandrinus, where the alignment's Greek reads otherwise.

The Greek lacks the Masoretic version's opening "Not, please!" (אַל־נָא, seeded) and the second "please." For "take my gift from my hand" it has δέξαι τὰ δῶρα διὰ τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν, "receive the gifts through my hands"; for "like seeing the face of Elohim," ὡς ἄν τις ἴδοι πρόσωπον θεοῦ, "as one would see the face of God," a potential optative; and for "and you accepted me," καὶ εὐδοκήσεις με, "and you will be well pleased with me," a future, the verb of the voice at the Jordan (Matt 3:17). The face that Jacob would propitiate at 32:20 and saw at the Figure of God (32:30) is the one word πρόσωπον here, so that the brother's face and the face of God meet in one verse, as in the Masoretic version.

Ἀπάραντες πορευθῶμεν ἐπ’ εὐθεῖαν, "Having set out, let us go on the straight," the straight road: the Greek has no words for the Masoretic version's "and I will go" (וְאֵלְכָה); the alignment seeds the lack before "let us go," but the words lacking stand after it, and the lack is marked there. For "in front of you" (לְנֶגְדֶּךָ) it has ἐπ’ εὐθεῖαν, the way straight ahead. In the Greek, Esau proposes that they go on together; in the Masoretic version he offers to lead. εὐθύς is the adjective of "make his paths straight" (Matt 3:3). πορευθῶμεν is Swete's text, where the alignment's Greek reads otherwise.

ὁ κύριός μου γινώσκει, "My lord comes to know," with γινώσκω's home gloss held in the present (144e). The Greek has ἁπαλώτερα, "more tender," the comparative for the Hebrew positive, and λοχεύονται ἐπ’ ἐμέ, "are giving birth upon me," where the Masoretic version reads "that are nursing are on me" (עָלוֹת עָלָי): the flocks are at the time of bearing, not of suckling. It has ἐὰν οὖν καταδιώξω αὐτούς, "if therefore I hunt them down," with οὖν, "therefore," which the Masoretic version lacks (marked as a plus), and the first person, where the Masoretic version reads "should they beat them" (וּדְפָקוּם), so that the overdriving would be Jacob's own; and τὰ κτήνη, "the cattle," for "the flock."

Swete prints προελθάτω, "Let … go ahead," from Alexandrinus, where the alignment's Greek reads otherwise, for the Masoretic version's "pass over." The Greek lacks "please" (seeded) and adds ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, "on the way" (seeded). For the Masoretic version's "I will guide myself along" (אֶתְנַהֲלָה) it has ἐνισχύσω, "I will grow strong," the verb of Israel's name at 32:28; and for "at my gentleness, at the foot of the work that is before my face" it has one phrase, κατὰ σχολὴν τῆς πορεύσεως τῆς ἐναντίον μου, "at the leisure of the going that is before me," the pace of the march for the Hebrew's work (מְלָאכָה) of the flocks. τὰ παιδάρια, "the lads," for "the children," and εἰς Σηείρ, "to Seir" (Swete's spelling).

Σκηναί, "Tents," where the Masoretic version reads "Succoth" (סֻכּוֹת, "booths"): the Greek translates the name, and keeps its play, for the "tents" Jacob makes for his cattle are σκηναί too, as the Hebrew's "booths" are סֻכֹּת. A different name, printed as the Greek says it and marked (145f), at both ends of the verse. σκηνή is the Septuagint's word for the booths of the feast (Lev 23:42–43 "in tents") and the New Testament's for the feast itself (σκηνοπηγία, John 7:2). The Greek has ἀπαίρει, "sets out," in the present, οἰκίας, "houses," plural, for "a house," and adds ἐκεῖ, "there," and ἐκείνου, "that" (both seeded).

εἰς Σαλὴμ πόλιν Σικίμων, "to Salem, a city of Shechem," where the Masoretic version reads "came complete to the city of Shechem" (שָׁלֵם, "whole," that is, safe and sound): the Greek reads שָׁלֵם as the name of a town belonging to Shechem. Jubilees (30:1) and the Vulgate (in Salem urbem Sichimorum) read the same, and so do the KJV ("came to Shalem, a city of Shechem") and Luther; the RSV has "came safely," with Rashi, who reads "whole in his body, whole in his wealth, whole in his Torah" (after Genesis Rabbah 79:5). Σαλήμ is the name of Melchizedek's city (14:18; Heb 7:1–2), and the Greek does not say whether it is the same town. Σίκιμα, "Shechem," the city, is another Greek form of the name the Greek spells Συχέμ for Hamor's son (33:19); the same name in two forms, unmarked (145f; names table). Μεσοποταμία Συρίας, "Mesopotamia of Syria," for "Paddan-aram," prints as at 28:2, 6.

ἑκατὸν ἀμνῶν, "a hundred lambs," where the Masoretic version reads "a hundred qesitah" (קְשִׂיטָה), a unit of value found only here, at Josh 24:32 and at Job 42:11: the Greek reads it as a beast of the flock in all three places (Josh 24:32 ἀμνάδων, Job 42:11 ἀμνάδα), so the field is bought in lambs (149c). The Talmud records Rabbi Akiva's report that in Africa a coin is called qesitah (b. Rosh Hashanah 26a), the reading of the Masoretic version's money. The Greek also lacks "the sons of" before Hamor (seeded; παρά, "from," renders "from the hand of"), and has ἔστησεν, "made stand," for "had stretched out" his tent. Stephen tells of the tomb "that Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem" (Acts 7:16).

The Masoretic version reads "and called to it El, Elohim of Israel": Jacob names the altar. The Greek has the middle ἐπεκαλέσατο, "called on," the verb of prayer to God (4:26; 12:8; 13:4; Acts 2:21; Rom 10:13), and τὸν θεὸν Ἰσραήλ, "the God of Israel": Jacob calls on the God whose name he now bears, and the altar is not named. The lack of "to it El" is marked (seeded, with the Hebrew word for "Elohim of," which the Greek's θεόν renders).