But Sarah denied: Sarah, who has heard the LORD’s speech in the previous verse, appears now to recognize that she is being confronted by God’s messenger, and so she is afraid. Note that Good News Translation begins this verse with “Because Sarah was afraid….” Denied here means that she claimed she did not laugh, which contradicts what the LORD says. In some languages it will be necessary to say something like “Sarah said it was not true that she laughed,” or “Sarah said, ‘No, I did not laugh.’ ” One translation says “Sarah was afraid, and because of this she wanted to hide what she had done; so she said….” A number of translations make it clear that what Sarah said was not true; for example, “Sarah was frightened so much that she told a lie: she said ‘I never laughed.’ ”

He said follows the Hebrew. He refers to the LORD, and translators may find it clearer to use the title rather than the pronoun here. What the LORD says to Sarah contradicts her denial, and so the contrast may need to be marked clearly. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “But the Lord answered her….” Note that Revised Standard Version No, but you did laugh has been revised in New Revised Standard Version to make a clearer contradiction of Sarah’s denial: “Oh yes, you did laugh.” In some translations other words are used to emphasize the contradiction; for example, “Truly you did laugh,” “It’s true that you laughed.”

Translators should be aware that different languages have different ways of expressing contradiction or negation in contexts like this. In particular the words “yes” and “no” relate to different things. In some languages they indicate whether what the previous speaker said was true or not; so the LORD would say to Sarah, “No, your statement is not true.” In English and many other languages “yes” and “no” refer to the content of what the previous speaker denied; in these languages the LORD would say to Sarah “Yes, you laughed.” It is important for translators to follow their normal way of expressing contradiction rather than to make a literal translation from some other language. And the usual ways of highlighting a contradiction will also be appropriate here.

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 .