OET interlinear HEB 11:17

uW Translation Notes:

In 11:17–19, the author refers to a specific story about Abraham. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham began to obey God and was about to kill his son when God sent an angel to stop him and tell him that he had proved that he feared God. Abraham then sacrificed an animal instead of sacrificing Isaac. You can read this story in Genesis 22:1–19. You might want to include this information in a footnote.

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

πίστει προσενήνοχεν Ἀβραὰμ τὸν Ἰσαὰκ πειραζόμενος, καὶ τὸν μονογενῆ προσέφερεν, ὁ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀναδεξάμενος

˱by˲_faith /has/_offered Abraham ¬the Isaac /being/_tested and his only_begotten /was/_offering the_‹one› the promises /having/_accepted

Here the author describes the same event with two different clauses. The first clause simply names Abraham and Isaac. The second clause describes how Abraham and Isaac relate to the promises. The author uses these two different clauses to emphasize the importance of this event. If it would be helpful in your language, you could combine the two clauses and provide emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: [By faith, when he was tested, Abraham, who had welcomed the promises, offered up Isaac, his one and only son]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

πειραζόμενος

/being/_tested

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. The author uses the passive form here to focus on Abraham, who is tested, rather than on the person doing the testing. If you must state who did the action, the author implies that God did it. Alternate translation: [at the time when God tested him]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

προσενήνοχεν & προσέφερεν

/has/_offered & /was/_offering

Here the author refers to how Abraham offered his son Isaac. However, the author knows that Abraham did not complete this “offering” by killing Isaac. Rather, he uses the word offered to refer to how Abraham completed all the steps of the offering until God interrupted him when he had the knife in his hand to kill his son. If it would be helpful in your language, you could clarify that Abraham was “about to” or “ready to” offer his son. Alternate translation: [had been ready to offer … was ready to offer up]

καὶ

and

Alternate translation: [and]

Note 4 topic: writing-pronouns

ὁ τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἀναδεξάμενος

the_‹one› the promises /having/_accepted

Here, the phrase the one having welcomed the promises refers back to Abraham. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make whom this phrase refers to more explicit. Alternate translation: [Abraham who had welcomed the promises]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἀναδεξάμενος

/having/_accepted

Here the author speaks of how Abraham received God’s promises as if they were guests that he welcomed. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [having received]

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τὰς ἐπαγγελίας

the promises

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of promises, you could express the idea by using a verb such as “promise” or “pledge.” Here, the content of the promises is the blessing of many descendants through Isaac (See: 11:18). Alternate translation: [how God had pledged offspring to him]