Genesis 37:14

14 And Israel said to him, Go and see if thy brethren and the sheep are well, and bring me word; and he sent him out of the valley of Chebron, and he came to Sychem.

Genesis 37:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:14

And he said to him, go, I pray thee
Or "now" F11, directly, immediately, which is more agreeable to the authority of a father:

see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks;
it having been many days, and perhaps months, since he had heard anything of them; and the rather Jacob might be under a concern for them, because of the danger they were exposed to from the neighbouring tribes and nations of the Canaanites, on account of their having some time ago destroyed the Shechemites; so the Targum of Jonathan, paraphrasing on the preceding part, makes Jacob to say,

``I am afraid, lest the Horites should come and smite them, because of their smiting Hamor and Shechem, and the inhabitants of that city; come, and I will send thee''

and bring me word again;
of their welfare, and of the state of their flocks:

so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron:
the same with the plains of Mamre near the city of Hebron, which was built on a hill:

and he came to Shechem:
after he had travelled sixty miles.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (an) "nunc", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.

Genesis 37:14 In-Context

12 And his brethren went to feed the sheep of their father to Sychem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed their flock in Sychem? Come, I will send thee to them; and he said to him, Behold, I .
14 And Israel said to him, Go and see if thy brethren and the sheep are well, and bring me word; and he sent him out of the valley of Chebron, and he came to Sychem.
15 And a man found him wandering in the field; and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I am seeking my brethren; tell me where they feed .

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.