They said: in some languages this will suggest that all three men spoke at once. In such cases it may be necessary to say “King Abimelech said.”

We see plainly that the LORD is with you: We of course refers to the three men, and in some languages this must be rendered by an exclusive pronoun. See plainly translates a Hebrew idiom “seeing we see.” The sense is as in Revised Standard Version, or we may say, for example, “It is clear to us,” “Anybody can see.” See Good News Translation. For the LORD is with you, see Gen 26.3.

So we say represents a conclusion the king and his men have reached, which may be expressed as “we have concluded,” “we have decided,” “so we thought.”

Let there be an oath between you and us: let there be expresses a desire, which may have to be expressed as “that we should swear an oath with you,” “we should make an agreement with you,” or “we want to make a treaty with you.” Oath translates the same word used in 24.41. The oath is the giving of a pledge or promise to abide by the conditions of the treaty.

And let us make a covenant with you is literally “let us cut a covenant.” For discussion of this expression see 6.18; 15.18. The intention of the covenant is to establish and maintain peace between Isaac’s people and those of Abimelech. In modern terms this can be called a nonaggression pact; that is, each side agrees not to attack the other.

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 .