At this point of the story, if not in verses 7-9, the setting must surely be daytime, since the activities now described are daytime activities, and birds of prey only fly around during the day. A considerable amount of time would also be required to do all that is described here.

And he brought him all these: he refers to Abram and him to God. Good News Translation says clearly “Abram brought the animals to God.”

Cut them in two means to cut the animals (but not the birds) by dividing them down the middle. Translators should avoid a word for “cut in two” that means cut through the middle so that the head and front legs are on one part and the hind quarters are on the other. In some languages readers may be confused if it is not stated that Abram killed the animals before cutting them in two. One translation, for example, says “Then Abram went and brought all these to the LORD; then he killed them all, and split each of the three animals into two halves.”

Laid each half over against the other: or as Good News Translation says more clearly, “placed the halves opposite each other in two rows.” In some cases it may be necessary to say “He laid the left half of an animal on one side, and on the other side he laid the right half of that animal.”

But he did not cut the birds in two: here again it may be necessary to say “Abram killed the birds, but did not cut them in two.”

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 .