The first-born bore a son: the text does not indicate any time transition between verse 36 and 37. Some languages, however, find it more natural to begin verse 37 with a transition such as “After months had passed,” “When the birth time came,” or simply “Later.” Bore a son means “gave birth to a male child,” “had a son.”

Moab: note that the Good News Translation footnote says “MOAB: This name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘from my father.’ ” Although Moab is not formally marked with the Hebrew possessive suffix meaning “my,” the style suggests it and the name of the second daughter’s son expresses it formally.

Father of the Moabites must often be expressed as “ancestor of the Moabite people” or “ancestor of the people called Moabite.” In some languages this is “the Moabite people come from him.”

In this text the Hebrew expresses the name of the child and the name of the tribe by the same term. There are other languages in which the ethnic name and the personal name will also be the same. However, in many languages a common ethnic pluralizer is added to the personal name. We may also say, for example, “He is the ancestor of the Moabite people who descended from him.”

To this day refers to the time much later, when this account was written, and when the Moabite people were living near Israel. Good News Translation says “the present-day Moabites,” Speiser “The Moabites of today.” In some languages this may be expressed “the people called Moabites today,” “the people who are known today as Moabites.”

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 .