The translation of this verse is made difficult by its clause order and by the text itself. As to the first problem, translators should notice how Good News Translation and others have reordered the clauses by placing Hagar’s question first, followed by the name she gave to the LORD. In the discussion of the verse here the Revised Standard Version clause order is followed.

So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her: So is used in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation to represent the Hebrew connective as a conclusion. She refers to Hagar. If necessary this may be expressed more fully as “Because of what the LORD had told her, she called….”

She called the name means Hagar gave the LORD a name, a name which he was not known by before: Thou art a God of seeing or, as Good News Translation says, “A God Who Sees.” In some languages it may be necessary to adjust this statement and name to something like “So Hagar gave the LORD a name that means ‘You are God who sees me.’ ” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the Hebrew of “who sees” can mean “a God of vision,” that is, “a visible God” or “a God of providence,” meaning “a God who provides.” In the light of the context, it seems best to understand “sees,” and so “God who sees” (Good News Translation). Some translations retain the Hebrew for “a God of seeing” in the form of ʾel roʾi, in order to associate the name Hagar gave to the LORD and the name of the well in the next verse. For example, New Jerusalem Bible says, “You are El Roi.”

For she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?”: this question, which is shifted to the opening of the verse by Good News Translation, is noted in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation as a conjecture or probable interpretation. Hebrew seems to say “Have I even here seen after him who sees me?” (Revised Standard Version footnote). Speiser understands the text to say “Did I not go on seeing here after he had seen me?” In spite of the difficulty in the text, it seems clear that there is a sense of surprise in what Hagar says, surprise at having survived her meeting with God. This can be brought out in a variety of ways in translation; in one language, for example, Hagar says to herself, “My word! I saw God and I didn’t die! I’m still here to talk about it!”

Translators will note that Hagar’s statement in the first part of the verse is addressed to God as Thou art, but her question here is in the third person seen God and after seeing him. Such a change from second person to third person will create difficulties in some languages, and so it may be necessary to retain the second person in the question: “Have I really seen you, God, and remained alive after seeing you?” Alternatively the statement may be shifted to the third person, as in Good News Translation, and the question kept in the third person.

Suggested translations for verse 13 are:

• (1) Hagar asked herself this question: “Have I really seen God and am still alive?” She decided to call the LORD who had spoken to her by the name “A God Who Sees.”

• (2) Hagar asked herself “God, have I really seen you and I am still alive to tell it?” So she decided to call God who had talked to her “You are God Who Sees Me.”

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 .