These he delivered into the hands of his servants, every drove by itself: after selecting the animals, Jacob put his servants in charge of them. The text expresses this as “He gave every herd by itself into the hands of his servants.” What Jacob does is to form several small droves or herds (there were five hundred and fifty animals altogether plus the young camels). He puts servants in charge of them to guide or herd them as they go out to meet Esau. The wording of Good News Translation is a good model to follow.

Jacob then instructs his herdsmen Pass on before me; that is, “Go ahead of me,” “Go in front of me.” The Hebrew translated Pass on can also mean “cross over”; it is therefore possible in this context that Jacob is saying “Cross the river ahead of me.” If the sense is “cross the river,” the river refers to the Jabbok. For further discussion of the route they traveled, see the comments introducing the text of 32.22-32. King James Version has “Pass over before me”; and some other translations have similar renderings.

Put a space between drove and drove: that is to say, “Leave a space between each of the herds.” The idea is that the gift herds are to reach Esau in intervals, part of Jacob’s plan to impress on Esau the extent of his tribute. The idea of a space between cannot be rendered literally in some languages. Two different ways this may be handled are “Don’t let any group of animals travel close to another group” and “Go ahead of me, but not all together; the goats are to go first, then the sheep will wait for a while and then follow, and the three other groups are to do the same.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .