Is anything too hard for the LORD?: Sarah’s rhetorical question is now met by the LORD’s own question. It too is rhetorical and does not expect an answer. It is another way of saying “Nothing is too hard for the LORD.” In many languages it is not natural for a speaker to refer to oneself in the third person. In this case we may say “Is anything too hard for me?” Hard translates a word that means out of the ordinary, exceptional; it is used in Job 42.3 in the sense of something difficult to understand, “things too wonderful,” and in Jer 32.17, 27 as something “too hard” to do. Bible en français courant says “Is there anything that the Lord is unable to do?” In some languages this question must be supplied with an answer: “No, of course not,” “Nothing at all.” Some languages may prefer to express this question as a negative statement; for example, “There is nothing the LORD cannot do,” or “Nothing is too difficult for the LORD”; or it may be expressed as a positive statement, “The LORD can do anything.”

Since this question or statement leads to a more forceful repetition of the statement of verse 10, some translations use words to give a strong emphasis at this point. Some examples from actual translations are “Listen Abraham. There is nothing…,” “You tell me. Is anything too hard…,” “I am the LORD. Do you think there is anything too difficult for me… I have already told you….”

At the appointed time I will return to you, in the spring: appointed time is taken to mean the time fixed by the speaker in verse 10. See there for its translation. This expression is general and is followed by the repetition of the more precise expression from verse 10: in the spring. Translators should use the same expression they used in verse 10, or they may say, for example, “At the time I promised you.” To you is a second singular masculine form in Hebrew and refers to Abraham.

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 .