And he brought him outside: the setting for the vision is inside Abram’s tent under a starry sky. Now that setting changes as Abram leaves the tent and stands in the open. He refers to the LORD and him to Abram, and must often be rendered “The LORD brought Abram outside his tent.” Brought him outside is spoken from the point of view that is outside the tent.

In some languages he brought him outside may be rendered “The LORD caused Abram to leave his tent,” “He made him go outside,” or “He made Abram leave the tent and go outside.” If “vision” in verse 1 has been translated in terms of a dream that comes while a person is asleep, it may be necessary to say here “The LORD woke Abram up and made him go outside.”

And said: from this point in the story the regular word for speaking in narrative is used with the LORD as subject, instead of the formula “the word of the LORD came,” which is found in verses 1 and 4.

Look toward heaven contains the same particle of entreaty used in Abram’s speech to Lot in 13.8. In the present context it seems to serve no purpose other than to intensify the command. In this context heaven refers to the night sky, so Good News Translation and other English versions have “look at the sky.”

Number the stars: the verb meaning to count is used in Hebrew twice, here and in the clause that follows. The word is used also in 1 Kgs 8.5. The sense is “Count the stars to see how many there are.”

If you are able to number them: the thought is that it is not possible to count all the stars, particularly the huge number seen on a clear night above the desert, where no artificial lights obscure them.

In translation the “if” clause may require adjusting for stylistic reasons to something like “if you can.” Good News Translation reshapes the command to “Try to count the stars.” It is assumed that Abram cannot literally count all the stars. The sense of the expression may be kept by saying, for example, “The stars are more than can be counted” or “No one can count the number of stars.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “Look at the stars in the sky. Can you count them?” In some languages such a question requires a reply, “Of course not.”

Then he said to him may be stylistically unnecessary. It serves as a transition to the conclusion. However, in some languages such a transition or pause will have to be carefully marked.

So shall your descendants be: the meaning is that Abram’s descendants (“seed”) will be as numerous or uncountable as the stars. In translation it must be made clear in some languages that the comparison is not to the smallness, distance, or brightness of the stars, but to their very great number. Accordingly we must sometimes say, for example, “Just as the stars are countless, so will your descendants be,” “You cannot count the stars because they are so many, and neither will anybody be able to count your descendants,” or “Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars.”

A translation that takes up some of the suggestions above in a conversational way says “Look up at the sky. Do you see all those stars? Do you think you can count them all? Not at all! Well, I’m going to give you as many descendants as that.”

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 .