On the third day shifts the scene to near the end of the journey. In some languages this change of scene requires some kind of transition. For example, “After they had been traveling for nearly three days,” “They had traveled nearly three days when….”

Lifted up his eyes and saw: this idiom may be translated, for example, “looked up and saw.”

The place afar off: that is “far away,” “a long way off,” “in the distance.” In some languages a place may be too difficult to see from a distance, in which case translators may refer to this as “the mountain.”

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 .