But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian: But is not an adequate discourse opener for English and many other languages. Accordingly it may be necessary to begin this episode with something like “One day when,” “It happened later that,” “After the feast was over.” If verse 8 is taken as opening this episode, the best transition here may be “During the course of the feast”; or it may be quite satisfactory to follow Revised Standard Version as it stands. Saw is used here in the sense of “notice,” “observe.” The narrator avoids Ishmael’s name and focuses on Ishmael’s mother and her origin. Good News Translation, however, names the son.

Playing with her son Isaac: a note in Revised Standard Version says that “with her son Isaac” is lacking in the Hebrew text but is found in the Greek Septuagint and the Vulgate translations. The verb translated playing was rendered by the Septuagint translators by a verb meaning “mocking,” and this has been followed by some recent versions. However, the Hebrew word is not followed by a preposition, as it is in other cases where the sense is clearly “mocking,” and so the meaning is better taken as “playing,” which is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. The Hebrew verb expresses the intensive form of the root from which Isaac’s name is derived. This is another example of a play on the name Isaac. It is highly unlikely that this play on words can be reproduced in translation. It is the sight of young Ishmael playing as an equal with Isaac that causes Sarah to become jealous and angry.

In some languages translations of this verse simply say “Sarah saw that other son of Abraham, the son of Hagar the Egyptian woman, playing.” But in other languages playing is an activity that two or more children do together; a common rendering is “Sarah saw that other son of Abraham … playing with her son Isaac.” One translation expresses this as “One day Sarah saw her son Isaac and Ishmael the son of … Hagar playing together.”

Translators may find that the whole of verse 9 may be translated as a time clause and verse 10 as the main clause. For example, Speiser translates “When Sarah noticed that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian…, she turned on Abraham, ‘Cast out….’ ”

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 .