Then God said to him in the dream serves to switch speakers in the dialogue. In the dream must often be rendered “in his dream” or “while Abimelech was dreaming.”

Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart: in spite of God’s judgment of Abimelech in verse 3, God now accepts Abimelech’s argument. You have done this may require filling out to say “you took Sarah to be your wife.” Then the translation may need to continue “and I know you did this with a good conscience.”

And it was I: the construction places the emphasis upon God as the one who acted to prevent Abimelech from sinning. In translation such emphasis is sometimes expressed “not someone else, only I,” “I and not anyone else,” “I am the one….”

Who kept you from sinning against me: sinning against me may require adjustments in translation to say, for example, “… kept you from doing what I said was evil,” “… kept you from doing evil in my eyes,” or “… from sinning and breaking my laws.”

Therefore I did not let you touch her: in some languages it may be more natural to place this clause before the previous one, so that “kept you from sinning” will be the result of I did not let you …. For example, “I did not let you touch Sarah, and so I kept you from doing what is evil.”

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 .