Discovery BoxGenesis 24:32 
Context24:32 So Abraham’s servant 1 went to the house and unloaded 2 the camels. Straw and feed were given 3 to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. 4
Genesis 25:30
Context25:30 So Esau said to Jacob, “Feed 5 me some of the red stuff – yes, this red stuff – because I’m starving!” (That is why he was also called 6 Edom.) 7
1 tn Heb “the man”; the referent (Abraham’s servant) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Some translations (e.g., NEB, NASB, NRSV) understand Laban to be the subject of this and the following verbs or take the subject of this and the following verbs as indefinite (referring to an unnamed servant; e.g., NAB, NIV).
3 tn Heb “and [one] gave.” The verb without an expressed subject may be translated as passive.
4 tn Heb “and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.”
5 tn The rare term לָעַט (la’at), translated “feed,” is used in later Hebrew for feeding animals (see Jastrow, 714). If this nuance was attached to the word in the biblical period, then it may depict Esau in a negative light, comparing him to a hungry animal. Famished Esau comes in from the hunt, only to enter the trap. He can only point at the red stew and ask Jacob to feed him.
6 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so is given a passive translation.
7 sn Esau’s descendants would eventually be called Edom. Edom was the place where they lived, so-named probably because of the reddish nature of the hills. The writer can use the word “red” to describe the stew that Esau gasped for to convey the nature of Esau and his descendants. They were a lusty, passionate, and profane people who lived for the moment. Again, the wordplay is meant to capture the “omen in the nomen.”
