complete verse (Genesis 15:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 15:16:

  • Kankanaey: “But it will nevertheless go to the fourth generation (lit. three-times of the offspring), then they will return to this country, so-that meanwhile the sinfulness of the Amorreo who inhabit here will-become-worse and it will-be-necessary that I punish them. That is what will happen to your (sing.) descendants, but as for you (sing.), you (sing.) will-become-very-old, then you (sing.) will die and they will bury you (sing.). Be-assured that (lit. reassurance/comfort particle) you (sing.) will not attain that difficulty,’ God said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After four generations your descendants will come back here. The sins of the Amorites will not be full until that time.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Four generations will-pass-by first before your descendants can-return here, because not yet sufficient/enough is the sinning of the Amornon for them to-be-punished and to-be-driven from this land.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “After your descendants have been slaves for 400 years, they will return here, and take control of this land and defeat the Amor people-group. Those people will, because those people have not yet sinned enough to deserve to be punished now.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 15:16

And they shall come back here: they refers to the descendants of Abram mentioned in verses 13-14. In translation it will often be necessary to make this clear by saying, for example, “Your descendants shall come back here.” Back here means to return to Canaan, the land God has promised to give them.

In the fourth generatio: generation translates Hebrew dor, which is used in the limited sense of a biological generation as well as in the general sense of a span of time. Some interpreters assume that in the patriarchal age a generation could be taken to be equivalent to a hundred years, and so four generations would mean four hundred years. Speiser argues for the sense of a time span, but nearly all translations, ancient and modern, prefer the term “generation.”

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete: this clause suggests a reason for God’s action against the Amorites that is not explained in detail but must be stated explicitly in translation to make it clear. The sense is that the Amorites are evil, but their sin has not yet reached the point where God has decided to drive them out of the land. The nature of the wickedness of the Canaanites is described in Lev 18; see particularly verses 24-28. Good News Translation provides a model that places God’s action at the beginning and end, “because I will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that they must be punished.” Various translations use different expressions to convey the idea of iniquity becoming complete; for example, “because the bad behavior of the Amorite people who live here now has not reached its full mark yet” and “This will happen when the Amorite people who live here now have become really bad; when they become really bad, I will punish them and I will bring back….”

In 10.16 the term Amorites refers to one particular group of people. However, this name applies more generally in other references, as here, to all the people who occupied the mountain range of central Canaan. See comments on 10.16.

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 .