6:15a
And so: The phrase And so means “So,” or “Because of that.”
Abraham, after waiting patiently: In this context the phrase after waiting patiently indicates when Abraham received what God promised him. He received it after he waited patiently. Abraham had to wait many years for God’s promises to be fulfilled. He was seventy-five years old when God first spoke to him (Genesis 12:3–4), and he was one hundred years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5).
Some other ways to translate the phrase are:
Abraham was patient, and so (Good News Translation)
-or-
And so by persevering, Abraham (NET Bible)
6:15b
obtained the promise: The phrase obtained the promise indicates that Abraham received what God promised to give him. The birth of Isaac was a fulfillment of God’s promise. Here is another way to translate this:
And so by persevering, Abraham was given the promise. (NET Bible)
The phrase obtained the promise implies that Abraham received the promise from God, as 6:13 says. In some languages it is more natural to repeat “God” here. For example:
obtained what God promised him
-or-
received the ⌊child whom⌋ God promised to give him
General Comment on 6:15a–b
In some languages it may be natural to translate this verse as a reason and result. For example:
Abraham was patient, and so he received what God had promised. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and he received what God promised. (New Century Version)
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