Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.

Genesis 32:10-14

Jacob is at a very tense time in his life. He is returning near the place of his upbringing and is very worried about his brother taking revenge against him for the birthright incident. He has separated his camp into two so that if one is attacked, the other will survive.

Now he goes off to pray to the Creator, which is what we are reading today. He recounts what G-d had promised. He also asks to be delivered from the hand of his brother Esau.

These very same children that travel with him today will one day mistreat their little brother and live with that very real crime for many years. Then they will also have to confront their brother who will then be the prime minister of Egypt during a famine. This same theme seems to haunt the sons of Abraham down through the generations. Then again, maybe it haunts all imperfect men as they regret wrong deeds of their past, even into our present day men and brothers - women and sisters.

Today's reading

English

And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, YHVH who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.' "

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Hebrew

The story continues next week as Jacob prepares gifts for Esau...

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Info on each letter starting at the beginning

If you are just starting, my lessons are all here starting at Alef, adding vowels (the dots and lines) as we go. I explain the meaning of each letter and its numerical value. Just go to my blog and scroll to the bottom or click here

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Thanks for reading.

Shabbat Shalom

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