The name that is transliterated as “Isaac” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and French Sign Language with a sign that is linked to his mother’s laughter when she hears that she will be pregnant with him (referring to Genesis 18:12 – 18:15) and also is the meaning of the Hebrew “Isaac” (Yitschaq — “he laughs”):
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 24:4:
Kankanaey: “but rather you (sing.) will go to the country where-I-am-from which is the location of my relatives so-that you will look/search- there -for a young-lady so-that that is whom he-will-marry.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Going to my own people in my own country, bring a bride for Isaac my son.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “[You (sing.)] go to the place where I came-from, and there [you (sing.)] choose a woman from my relatives to-be-a-wife for my child Isaac.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Instead, go back to my country and to my relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac from among them.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)
But will go to my country: even if the text is not restructured as suggested above, translators may find it best to begin a new sentence with Gen 24.4. “I want you to go back to my country.” My country means “my country of origin,” “the country in which I was raised.”
To my kindred: that is, “to my relatives.” Some translations fill this out to “my relatives who are still living there.”
In 12.1 the LORD told Abraham “Go from your country and your kindred….” In 12.4 Abraham departed from Haran. So the instruction to the servant is to return to the area of Haran in northern Mesopotamia.
And take a wife for my son Isaac expresses positively what was said negatively in the previous verse. A number of actions are included in take a wife for, and in some languages these must be mentioned separately; for example, “find a woman … and bring her back so that she can be married to my son.” In some translations choosing the wife is linked more closely with going back to Abraham’s relatives, by saying “choose the daughter of one of them for my son to marry.”
A model of the way verses 3b-4 may need to be rearranged in translation is as follows:
• Here is the promise I want you to make. You must find a wife for my son Isaac. But you must not find his wife in this country of Canaan. No! You have to go back to my own country, and from my own countrymen you must get a wife for my son.
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 .
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