Bible Strands
Genesis 32:14
200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob selects livestock from his own possessions to send as a gift to his brother Esau ahead of their impending meeting. This action occurs during his night-long preparation before crossing the Jabbok.
The words — The text lists עִזִּים ('izzîm), meaning female goats, and מָאתַ֔יִם (māʾatayim), meaning two hundred, establishing the precise quantity of the first gift group. It pairs these with תְּיָשִׁים (tēyāšîm), male goats, and עֶשְׂרִים ('esrîm), twenty, to complete the initial count.
The thread — This inventory of livestock mirrors the wealth descriptions found in Job 1:3 and Job 42:12, while the source of such possessions echoes the principle stated in Deuteronomy 8:18. The passage continues in Genesis 32:15 with additional animals to form the complete gift.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to observe the deliberate, quantitative preparation Jacob makes to mitigate his brother's hostility. It presents a concrete example of using acquired resources to navigate a critical relational threshold.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.
- Job 1:3 and he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very large number of servants. Job was the greatest man of all the people of the East.
- Job 42:12 So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
- Genesis 30:43 Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 31:9 Thus God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me.
- Genesis 31:16 Surely all the wealth that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So do whatever God has told you.”
- 1 Samuel 25:2 Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.