And Isaac said … “My father!”: this address form should be translated in the natural way a son may address his father to get his attention before asking a perplexing question. In the context of the two walking along together, Speiser translates “Isaac broke the silence and said to his father….”

Here am I, my son: Abraham’s response to his son is the same as Abraham made to God’s call to him in Gen 22.1. However, the context of father and son may require a different form here in some languages. A more natural response in English is New Jerusalem Bible and New International Version “Yes, my son.” Examples of translations in other languages are “Son, what?” and “Yes, what is it?”

Behold, the fire and the wood: Behold here calls attention to Isaac’s awareness of the fire and wood, while the animal is lacking. In translation we may say, for example, “I see that we have fire and wood,” “We have fire and wood with us,” “I know that we have fire and wood.”

But where is the lamb…?: the question form where is…? draws attention to the contrast between what they have for the sacrifice and what is missing. This may be expressed more directly as, for example, “Look! We have got fire and firewood, but we haven’t got a small sheep to make a sacrifice with. What will we do for that?” Lamb translates a Hebrew word meaning the young of a sheep or goat and so can refer to a lamb (young sheep) or a kid (young goat). Both are used for sacrifice.

For a burnt offering: that is, “a lamb to be killed and sacrificed” or “a kid to be killed and burned as a gift to God.”

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 .