4:19a

Without weakening in his faith: This clause indicates that Abraham continued believing in God well. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

his faith did not decrease
-or-
Abraham did not stop believing
-or-
his faith was still strong
-or-
his believing ⌊in God⌋ did not fall/move

his: This word refers to Abraham here. In some languages 4:18d might imply that his here refers to God. If that is true in your language, use the name here. For example:

Abraham’s

4:19b

In this verse part, Paul speaks of Abraham’s body as if it were dead. The Berean Standard Bible translates the meaning of this metaphor with the phrase “the decrepitness of his body.” In order to comment directly on the metaphor, the notes use the English Standard Version in this verse part.

(English Standard Version🙂 when he considered his own body:
The word considered means “thought about.” For example:

he contemplated his own body (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
when he thought of his body (Good News Translation)

(English Standard Version🙂 which was as good as dead: There is a textual issue here:

(1) The Greek is having been dead. For example:

as good as dead (New International Version)

(Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)

(2) The Greek is already having been dead. For example:

which was already as good as dead (New Revised Standard Version)

(Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, King James Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), because it is harder to find a reason for a copyist to omit it if it was originally there than finding a reason for a copyist to add it.

(English Standard Version🙂 which: This word introduces how Paul described Abraham’s body. In some languages a different word or phrase must be used for the correct meaning. This also may require a new sentence. For example:

It was as good as dead

(English Standard Version🙂 was as good as dead: The Greek is more literally “having been dead.” It is a figure of speech here. It indicates that Abraham was too old to produce child. Here are other ways to translate these words:

as dead (NET Bible)
-or-
it was no longer possible for him to have any children
-or-
which was too old to father a child
-or-
much past the age for having children (New Century Version)

4:19c

(since he was about a hundred years old): This clause is background information: additional information that is not a main part of what Paul was talking about. So the Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions put this clause in parentheses to indicate that. It explains “good as dead” in 4:19b. Here are other ways to punctuate this clause:

—since he was about a hundred years old— (New International Version)
-or-
because he was about a hundred years old, (Revised Standard Version)

In some languages, it is more natural to begin a sentence with background information. See General Comment at 4:19d.

he was about a hundred years old: This phrase refers to how many years Abraham had lived about the time that Sarah became pregnant. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

Abraham’s age was close to a hundred years
-or-
his years were about 100

4:19d

the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb: The Greek word which the Berean Standard Bible translates as lifelessness is literally “deadness.” Here it implies “unable to have children.” Paul used this word instead of the usual Greek word for lifelessness to connect it to “as good as dead” in 4:19b.

In some languages a literal translation would have the correct meaning. For example:

the deadness of Sarah’s womb (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
that Sarah’s womb was dead (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb (New Living Translation (2004))

But in some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning. For example:

Sarah was unable to have children (God’s Word)
-or-
Sara his wife was barren
-or-
she could not give birth

Sarah’s womb: This phrase refers to the place where a baby lives and grows before the mother gives birth. Some languages have a polite way to refer to this place. For example:

Sarah’s tummy/stomach

Also see the examples above.

Sarah’s: Sarah was Abraham’s wife. In some languages people would not know that. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain that here. For example:

⌊his wife⌋ Sarah’s

General Comment on 4:19a–d

4:19b–d is background information to 4:19a. In some languages it is more natural to have the background information first. For example:

19b When he acknowledged his own body, which was as good as dead 19c (since he was about a hundred years old), 19d or when he acknowledged the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb, 19a he did not weaken in faith.
-or-

19b He acknowledged his own body as good as dead 19c because he was about a hundred years old, 19d and acknowledged Sarah’s womb also as good as dead, 19a but he did not weaken in faith.

General Comment on 4:18a–19d

People of some language groups are not familiar with the story of Abraham, and so the purpose of 4:18 may not be clear until reading 4:19. If that is true of people in your language, you may want to have the words of 4:19 first. For example:

19b When he acknowledged his own body, which was as good as dead 19c (since he was about a hundred years old), 19d or when he acknowledged the barrenness of Sarah’s womb, 19a he did not weaken in faith. 18a In hope he believed against hope, 18b that he should become the father of many nations, 18c as he had been told, 18d “So shall your offspring be.”

You will then need to mark these two verses as 18-19.

© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.