Write your own post on Genesis 32:4

Here are the sources you will need:

1: The Masoretic Text

ויצו אתם לאמר כה תאמרון לאדני לעשו כה אמר עבדך יעקב עם לבן גרתי ואחר עד עתה
(I don't have a font for the cantillation, but the comma, or asnachta, is under the word "לעשו" See it here)

2: Christian Translations

King James Bible: 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..."

American Standard Version: 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..."

3: Robert Alter's note on this verse (click to read)


4: ArtScroll's translation (click to read)

[For those I may have lost]

I'm asking a question on ArtScroll. The cantillation of the verse suggests that "To my lord Esav" is not part of the message. This is picked up by the famous Christian translations which have (something like) And he commanded them, saying, This it what you should tell my lord Esau [STOP]: "Your servant Jacob says, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now..."

Using the work of another scholar, and ANE letters, Alter argues that "To my lord Esav" is part of the message. Thus: This it what you should say [STOP] "To my lord Esau, your servant Jacob says, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now..."

ArtScroll, oddly, follows Alter and not the MT's cantilation.

Bizarre