Because Abraham obeyed my voice: see 22.18.

The wording in this verse with charge, commandments, statutes, and laws occurs nowhere else in the stories of the patriarchs. This vocabulary reflects a usage from a much later period, when obedience to the law was the center of Israel’s relationship to God. All of these nouns overlap in their meanings.

My charge means what I charged, ordered Abraham to do. Charge translates a noun whose verb form means to “guard,” “watch over.” Its noun form is used, for example, in Deut 11.1; Josh 22.3; 1 Kgs 2.3, with the sense of “command,” “law,” “regulation.” Speiser translates “mandate,” Bible en français courant, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “orders.” In some languages it will be more natural to express this as a clause; for example, “and did what I told him,” “did what I ordered him to do.”

My commandments is also used in Lev 26.14. It translates one of the common words in this group and is almost always used in the plural in Psa 119. Translators should refer to the discussion in the introduction to Psalm 119 in A Handbook on Psalms, and to the discussion of Psa 1.2 and 19.7 in the same volume. In cases where “my laws” may be misunderstood, it will probably be better to say “my teaching” or “my instruction.” Often a clause is preferred; for example, “what I taught,” “the things I instructed Abraham to do.” See also my laws below.

My statutes: the same Hebrew word is translated by Revised Standard Version as “decree” in Psa 2.7. Statute refers to an authoritative statement of some kind. As a clause it may be rendered, for example, “The words I have spoken,” “What I have declared.”

My laws translates the Hebrew word torah, which refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The word itself means “teaching,” “instruction,” or “guidance.” According to Psa 1.2 obeying the torah of the LORD is the source of joy.

As many languages will find it more natural to translate some of these noun-like words as verbs, here is a suggested model:

• … because Abraham obeyed me. He did what I told him to do. He followed my instructions, the words I spoke, and what I taught him.

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 .