The angel of the LORD said to her: these same words are repeated at the beginning of verses 10 and 11. Whatever may be the reason for this repetition, translators should use an acceptable narrative style in representing them. See the example of Good News Translation.

The angel gives two commands to Hagar in verse 9 and then gives her the motivation to obey in verses 10 and 11. The first command is Return to your mistress, that is, “Go back to your mistress.” In some languages this command is expressed “Go back to the presence of your mistress,” “Go back to where your mistress is,” or “Return to the woman who owns you.”

The second command submit to her is literally “submit yourself under her hands,” which Good News Translation renders “be her slave,” and Revised English Bible “submit to ill-treatment at her hands.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy is more general with “obey her in everything.” We may also translate, for example, “do everything she orders you to do.” An example of the way a number of translations render the first speech of the angel of the LORD is “You have got to go back…, and still be her working girl as well as you can.”

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 .