Genesis 32:12

12 But thou didst say, 'I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

Genesis 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 32:12

And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good
All kind of good, most certainly and constantly; so Jacob rightly interpreted the promise, "I will be with thee", ( Genesis 31:3 ) ; for the promise of God's presence includes and secures all needful good to his people; and from this general promise Jacob draws an argument for a special and particular good, the preservation of him and his family, he was now pleading for; and the rather he might hope to succeed, since the following promise was also made him: and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for
multitude;
which could not be fulfilled, if he and his family were cut off at once, as he feared; but God is faithful who has promised.

Genesis 32:12 In-Context

10 I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness which thou hast shown to thy servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.

11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and slay us all, the mothers with the children.

12 But thou didst say, 'I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

13 So he lodged there that night, and took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau,

14 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,