Now Sarai was barren: Sarai’s barren condition is mentioned here in the introduction, as it will grow into an essential complication in the story in chapters 15–18. This statement is followed by a second with the same meaning: she had no child. These two statements form a parallelism in which the second emphasizes the content of the first. In this way the narrator uses a poetic device to impress this point on his listeners and readers. In translation the same emphasis may be given in various ways. For example, “Sarai couldn’t have children. She did not have one nursing baby.” “Did Sarai have children? No, not a single one.” “Was Sarai a mother? Whose child did she ever give birth to?”

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 .