And your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth: for the comparison of numerous descendants with dust, see 13.16, where God gave this same promise to Abraham. See Good News Translation “specks of dust.”

You shall spread abroad: for a similar expression regarding extending the population, see Isa 54.3. The sense of the verb used here is “break out,” but the reference is to extending the territory or the borders of their country.

To the west … to the south: note that Good News Translation reduces this to “in all directions.” The Good News Translation model may be helpful for languages that use long, descriptive expressions for north, south, east, and west.

And by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves: the Hebrew wording is the same as in 12.3, where Revised Standard Version also translates “bless themselves.” See 12.3 for full discussion. See also 18.18.

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 .