This verse repeats clearly in the form of a lament what is stated obscurely in the last part of Gen 15.2.

And Abram said marks the continuation of Abram’s speech. Good News Translation and others do not translate it, as it is stylistically unnecessary in English. However, it may serve to mark this as a speech, and such markings are essential in some languages.

Behold, thou hast given me no offspring: for Behold see 1.31. Abram complains that God has given him no “seed,” a common way to refer to descendants or offspring in Hebrew. We may rephrase this complaint to say, for example, “Look, you have not made me the father of any children” or “Listen, you have not enabled me to become a father.”

A slave born in my house is literally “a son of my house.” This is interpreted to be the legal practice described in the Nuzi tablets from Mesopotamia, in which a childless couple could adopt a friend or even a slave, who then undertook to care for the couple in their declining years and to provide them with a fitting burial. In exchange that person was named as their heir.

The use of slave or “servant” in translation depends upon the meanings these terms have in the translator’s language. If neither is suitable, it may be necessary to use a descriptive phrase such as “a man of my camp who works for me” or “one of the workers who belongs to my camp.”

Will be my heir: see discussion in Gen 15.2.

Translators may find it possible to combine verses 2 and 3 so that a better flow of thought is maintained. For example, Bible en français courant says “Abram answered: Lord, my God, what good is it to give me anything? I am childless, you have given me no descendant. My heir, the one who will receive my property, is Eliezer of Damascus, one of my servants.” Verse numbers 2-3 are placed before the combined verse in this case.

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 .