Then the men set out from there: a transition term like Then is appropriate for English to mark this as continuing to the next episode. Set out is literally “rose up,” but the sense is to depart or leave. From there is from Abraham’s camp, the setting of the previous events. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “After that the visitors got on their feet and walked….” This version pictures the visitors rising from their meal beneath the tree. This may serve as a satisfactory translation model. We may also say, for example, “After finishing their meal, the men got up and started out” or “… left Abraham’s camp.”

They looked toward Sodom is literally “looked down upon the face of Sodom.” The expression refers to an overlook or high point in the hills outside Mamre, from which it is possible to see the Dead Sea valley, where Sodom is located. The Septuagint adds “and Gomorrah” after Sodom. Good News Translation “where they could look down on Sodom” assumes the reader knows the geography of the area. Since most readers do not know the geography of the area, it may be better to say “Then the men left Abraham’s camp and went to a hilltop [or, cliff] where they could look down in the direction of the town of Sodom.”

Toward Sodom is of course the direction in which the men are going to travel, not just the direction in which they look. So Speiser translates “The men set out from there and faced toward Sodom….” Other translations have something like “They got up and went in the direction of Sodom.”

Abraham went with them to set them on their way: that is, Abraham accompanied them to see them off, send them on their way, point out the way for them. We may also say, for example, “to say farewell to them,” or “to tell them good-bye.”

In some languages it will be desirable to change the order of the clauses in this verse, since Abraham actually sets out with the visitors before they look down on the town of Sodom. Two examples of this change are “… and Abraham went with them to say goodbye to them at a high place where they could look…” and “Abraham went with them to see them off. And at one place they stood and looked down on the town of Sodom.”

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 .