Arise does not mean that Abram was seated or lying down when he was commanded to walk. In Hebrew the term has a rhetorical function when it occurs as a command followed by another command, indicating that the command is important and that the person should begin immediately to do the action commanded. For other examples in Genesis see 19.15; 21.18; 28.2. Good News Translation, New English Bible, and others say “Now, go and look….” New International Version has “Go, walk through the land….” A fuller discussion of this use of the Hebrew verb qum (often translated “arise”) is found in the 1989 article by Rebera.

Walk through the length and the breadth of the land probably refers to the ancient legal acquisition of land by pacing off the length and width of it to claim it. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch expresses the thought “Traverse the whole land in all directions….” One recent translation renders the first part of the verse as “You’ve seen the land from your camp, but now you have to go and walk everywhere in it….” According to Speiser “a tour of inspection is involved,” and Good News Translation expresses this element with “go and look over the whole land….”

For I will give it to you: Abram receives the land from the LORD.

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 .