17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Sarai” and “Sarah” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign depicting coins on a headband, referring to women from the Middle East and North Africa who wear a headband decorated with small coins. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In Aekyom, years are counted as “turtles” (ambum).
Norm Mundhenk tells this story:
“Recently I was checking some New Testament material in the Aekyom language of western Papua New Guinea. It seemed relatively clear until suddenly we came to a passage that started, ‘When Jesus had 12 turtles, …’ Surely I had misunderstood what they said.
“‘Did you say that Jesus had 12 turtles?’
“‘Let us explain! Around here there is a certain time every year when river turtles come up on the banks and lay their eggs. Because this is so regular, it can be used as a way of counting years. Someone’s age is said to be how many turtles that person has. So when we say that Jesus had 12 turtles, we mean that Jesus was 12 years old.’
“It was of course the familiar story of Jesus’ trip with his parents to Jerusalem. And certainly, as we all know, Jesus did indeed have 12 turtles at that time!”
In Tok Pisin, krismas (derived from “christmas”) is taken as the fixed annual marker, so Jesus had 12 “christmases” (Jisas i gat 12-pela krismas pinis) or Abram (in Gen. 12:4) had 75 (Abram i gat 75 krismas) (source: Norm Mundhenk). In Noongar it is biroka kadak or “summers had” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 17:17:
Kankanaey: “When Abraham heard that-aforementioned that God said, he knelt face-down while-at-the-same-time he laughed saying in his thoughts, ‘Is it indeed possible that there-will-be offspring-whom-I-sire because here-now one hundred are my years and Sara also, ninety are her years.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Abraham fell prostrate to the ground. And thinking like this, laughed in his heart — ‘Will there be descendants even from a man who is 100 years old? Will Sarah give birth to a child even though she is 90 years old?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When Abraham heard that he knelt-down in-respect to God, but he laughed at what- he -had-heard. He said to himself, ‘Can- I still -cause-to-give-birth when my age is now 100? And Sara, can- still -give-birth when her age is now 90?'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Abraham prostrated himself with his face on the ground to show respect to God. But then he laughed as he said to himself, ‘Can a man who is a 100 years old become a father of a son? And since Sarah is 90 years old, how can she bear a child?'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Verse 17 gives the second response of Abraham to God’s words of promise, the first being in Gen 17.3.
Then Abraham fell on his face: see discussion of Gen 17.3. Since this is the second time that Abraham has responded in this way, some translations say “Abraham bowed right down to the ground again.”
And laughed: in order to avoid giving the impression that Abraham was so amused that he fell down laughing, it will often be necessary to separate the act of reverent submission from the laughter that follows. Good News Translation does this effectively with “but he began to laugh when he thought.” The Hebrew verb translated laughed has an even wider range of meaning than the English word, and in some contexts it is better translated “played” or “smiled.” However, many languages have a range of different terms for laughing that are used in different situations or suggest different attitudes and feelings in the ones who laugh. In translation it is important to use a term that is appropriate to Abraham’s emotion in this context: this is a laugh of disbelief, not of amusement; and Abraham probably did not have a smiling face, which is what the common word for “laugh” would suggest in a number of languages.
Translators should notice that the word “laugh” occurs a number of times and has a prominent place in the story of the birth of Isaac. It describes the reaction of both Abraham and Sarah when the birth of a child is promised, here in 17.17 and again in 18.12, 13, 15. It comes again in 21.6, when the promise is fulfilled. And the name given to the child (17.19; 21.3) is Isaac, which means “he laughs.” As far as possible the word “laugh” should be rendered in the same way each time it occurs throughout this story.
And said to himself is literally “and said in his heart.” This may be translated “and asked himself in his heart,” “asked himself,” “thought to himself,” “questioned in his innermost.” Typical translations say “But he laughed and thought like this” or “He laughed to himself and said.” One translation changes the order of laughing and thinking into what seems to be the natural order, and says “… but he was thinking, I will be a hundred and I can’t have a child; and Sarah is… And when he thought like that he laughed.”
Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?: Abraham’s question reflects his surprise that God would even consider an aged couple having a child. The question is rhetorical: Abraham is not asking if it is possible, but rather he is saying emphatically that it is not possible. In some languages this question must be answered “No, of course not.” If a rhetorical question is inappropriate in this context, it may be expressed as a negative statement; for example, “It is not at all possible for a hundred-year-old man to become a father.”
Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?: this question can be handled in the same manner as the one concerning Abraham. Alternatively translators may wish to combine the two questions and say, for example, “Can I who am a hundred years old and Sarah who is ninety have a child? Of course not!” or “I am a hundred years old and Sarah is ninety; how can we have a child? It is impossible!”
One quite colloquial translation that expresses the feeling of disbelief well says “I’m a hundred and he reckons I’m going to have a son of my own. And my wife Sarah is a really old woman of ninety, and he reckons she’s going to have a baby. We-two can’t!”
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 .
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