After these things: this expression is used also in 22.1; 22.20; 39.7 (“after a time”); 40.1 (“Some time after this”); 48.1 (“After this”), and serves as a link to what has gone before. However, this formula may be used as a transition between closely related units as well as between ones that are not closely connected, as in 1 Kgs 13.33. The transition serves to introduce something that happened later, and so refers to a later time. Speiser says “Some time afterward,” New Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible “Some time later.” In some languages this expression may have to be stated more concretely in order to relate this discourse clearly to the events in chapter 14. Accordingly it may be necessary to say, for example, “After Abram had rescued Lot” or “When Abram had finished rescuing Lot from the foreign kings, then the word of the LORD came….”
The word of the LORD came is a formula that is uncommon in the first six books of the Hebrew Scriptures, but quite common in other parts of the Old Testament. In Genesis the expression occurs only here and in Gen 15.4. It is frequently used of a prophetic revelation, that is, God’s appearing to a prophet. Note that in 20.7 Abram is referred to as a “prophet.” The formula often requires some adjustments in translation, and here it must often be related to in a vision as the means by which the word came to the one who received it, Abram.
The second part of the expression in a vision refers to an event in which something appears in a vivid manner to the mind of the person who “sees” it. The unstated thought here is that the vision was caused by the LORD for a particular purpose. Where there is no term for vision, translators will generally try to find an expression that relates this experience to a dream or a trance, and to what the person “sees” in it. One example of this is “… Abram saw something like a dream that the LORD showed him, and in it he heard the LORD tell him….” In languages in which the word for “dream” must be used to translate vision, it is important that the LORD be named as the one who causes Abram to dream, or as the one appearing to Abram in the dream. For example, “The LORD made Abram dream and said to him…” or “The LORD came to Abram in a dream and said….”
In translation it is sometimes necessary to express the two terms vision (seeing) and word (speaking) as actions with the participants clearly identified. Good News Translation does this well with “Abram had a vision and heard the LORD say to him.” Bible en français courant and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch leave out the element of dream or trance in the meaning of vision by translating “The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him.”
The message given to Abram has three parts. In the first place the experience of such a vision would be alarming, and so the LORD assures Abram with the words Fear not or “Do not be afraid.” The second part is I am your shield, which is used as a metaphor assuring God’s people of salvation in Deut 33.29; Psa 18.2, 30; 84.11; 144.2. It occurs nowhere else in Genesis. In translation it may be necessary to shift to a more general expression such as “I will protect you” or “I will be your protector.” One translation says “I will block anything that might hurt you.” If the object shield is known, it may still be clearer to use a simile and say, for example, “I will protect you as a shield protects a soldier.”
Your reward shall be very great is literally “and your reward very great.” Reward is not to be understood as payment in exchange for Abram’s work for the LORD. The LORD will give him good gifts for obeying. We may render this, for example, “I will give you a great gift” or “I will do many good things for you.” In one Pacific language this last suggestion is expressed as “I will make you a man who has a big name.”
There is an alternative way of understanding the Hebrew text at this point, one that makes “your very great reward” a second name or description of the LORD, following your shield. So the King James Version has “I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward” (similarly New International Version). Translators are advised to follow the models of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.
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 .