And by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves: the wording here is somewhat similar to 12.2-3. The sense expressed here is that when the nations or people of the earth ask God’s blessings upon themselves, they will cite the descendants of Abraham as their example; we may say “The nations will ask God to bless them as he blessed the descendants of Abraham.”

Because you have obeyed my voice: the reason why the people of the earth will be blessed is that Abraham “heard my voice.” This may also be rendered “obeyed me,” “did what I commanded you to do,” “This will happen because you obeyed me.” We may render this verse, for example, “Because you have obeyed me, your descendants will be a blessing to all the people of the world.”

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 .