Bible Strands
Genesis 33:10
But Jacob insisted, “No, please! If I have found favor in your sight, then receive this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, since you have received me favorably.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jacob speaks to his brother Esau at their reunion, pressing him to accept a gift after Esau initially refuses by claiming he already has plenty. This moment follows Esau’s declaration in Genesis 33:9 and precedes Jacob’s second appeal in Genesis 33:11.
The words — The Hebrew חֵן (chen) means "favor," anchoring Jacob’s plea to find favor in Esau’s sight. Jacob also uses מָצָאתִי (ma.Tza.ti), translating literally as "I have found," to ground his request in the reality of God’s provision.
The thread — The text links face-to-face divine encounters with survival and favor in Genesis 32:30, echoes the prayerful finding of favor in Job 33:26, and points forward to the unmediated vision in Revelation 22:4.
Why it lands — The verse states that receiving a brother’s favor mirrors encountering God’s face, requiring the reader to accept unearned grace rather than cling to self-sufficiency. It demands a posture of humility when accepting what one cannot secure through merit.
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
And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
Cross-references
- Job 33:26 He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.
- Revelation 22:4 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
- Genesis 32:30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, saying, “Indeed, I have seen God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
- Jeremiah 31:2 This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found favor in the wilderness when Israel went to find rest.”
- Genesis 19:19 Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.
- Genesis 47:29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
- Genesis 50:4 When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that
- Exodus 33:12 Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’
- Ruth 2:10 At this, she fell on her face, bowing low to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, even though I am a foreigner?”
- 1 Samuel 20:3 But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”