17:3-14
(Chapter 17—Verse 3 and following) And the Lord spoke to him, saying: Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations, and your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations. It should be noted that wherever we read Testament in Greek, in the Hebrew language it is the word covenant or pact, that is, Berith (). The Hebrews say that God, from his name, which is the Tetragrammaton among them, added the letter He to Abraham and Sarah: for he was first called Abram (), which means lofty father, and later he was called Abraham (), which means father of many: for what follows nations is not part of the name, but is understood. It is not surprising, therefore, that when it seems that the letter Α has been added among the Greeks and us: we have called it the Hebrew letter He added; for the language of that tongue is to write with He (ה), but to read with A (א): just as, on the contrary, the letter A is often pronounced as He.
17:15
(Verse 15) And God said to Abraham: You shall not call your wife Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. Those who think that the first Sarah was written with one 'R' and then another 'R' was added to it are mistaken. And because 'R' is the hundredth number among the Greeks, they suspect many silly things about her name: when in fact, whatever way they want to understand the composite word, it should have a Hebrew, not Greek, origin, since the name itself is Hebrew. However, no one calling someone in another language takes the etymology of the word from the other language. Therefore, Sarai () was first called by Sin, Res, Iod: with Iod removed, that is, the I element, the letter He was added, which is read as A: and she was called Sara (). However, the reason for the change of name is that she was previously called 'my princess', the mother of the household of only one. For it follows: I will give you a son from her, and I will bless him, and he will be among the nations, and the kings of the peoples will come from him. And notably, not as we read in Greek: God said to Abraham. Your wife Sarai shall not be called by her name Sarai: in Hebrew it is said: you shall not call her name Sarai, that is, you shall not say to her, you are my princess: for she shall be the princess of all nations. Some suspect, mistakenly, that before she was called leprous, and afterwards princess: since leprosy is called Sarath in our language, which seems to have some similarity; but in Hebrew it is completely different. For it is written with Sade, and Res, and Ain, and Thau: which differs greatly from the previous three letters, that is, Sin, Res, and He, with which Sara is written, it is clear.
17:17
(Verse 17.) And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed. And he said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And after a little while: And thou shalt call his name Isaac. Different opinions, but there is one etymology why he is called Isaac. For Isaac is interpreted as laughter. Others say that Sarah laughed, therefore he was called laughter, which is false. Others indeed say that Abraham laughed, which we also approve. After Ishmael was born, Isaac was born, and then we read about Abraham and Sarah laughing. However, it should be known that in the Old Testament, four people were called by their names before they were born, without any disguise: Ishmael, Isaac, Solomon, and Josiah. Read the Scriptures.
18:6
(Chapter 18, Verse 6) And he said to him: Hurry, mix three measures of wheat flour. Because three measures are explicitly mentioned here, and the measure is uncertain: therefore I added that in Hebrew it has three sata, that is, three amphoras: so that we may understand the same mystery here and in the Gospel, where a woman is said to have fermented three measures of wheat flour (Matthew 13:33).
18:10
(Verse 10) However, he said, 'Returning, I will come to you at this time and in this hour, and Sarah will have a son.' For 'hour,' we read 'life' in Hebrew, so that the order or sense is: I will return to you in the time of life, as if he were saying, if I live, if life accompanies me. This, however, is anthropopathically expressed, like other things.
18:12
(Verse 12.) But Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure? It is much differently read in Hebrew: And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I have withered, shall I have pleasure? Also note that where we have translated as pleasure, it is written as delight in Hebrew. Symmachus translated this passage as: After I have grown old, shall I have youth?
18:32
(Verse 32) And he said, 'Is it, Lord, if I speak?' Which is written in Greek, μήτι, Κύριε, ἐὰν λαλήσω. Secondly, Abraham spoke to the Lord, which does not seem to clearly indicate what he is saying. Therefore, in Hebrew it is written more explicitly: 'Please do not be angry, Lord, if I have spoken.' For since he seemed to be questioning, he qualifies what he seeks by beginning with a plea.
19:14
(Chapter 19, Verse 14) And he spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters. For afterward, it is said that the two daughters of Lot were virgins (about whom he himself had said long ago to the Sodomites: Behold, my two daughters, who have not known man), and now the Scripture mentions that he had sons-in-law; some think that those who had husbands remained in Sodom, and the ones who were virgins left with their father. And since the Scripture does not say, the Hebrew truth must be explained, in which it is written: Lot went out and spoke to the fiancés who were to receive his daughters. Therefore, the virgin daughters had not yet been joined in marriage.
(Verse 21) And he said to him: Behold, I am amazed by your face. In Hebrew it is: Behold, I have received your face: that is, I accept your prayers. Symmachus, interpreting according to the sense, says, 'I was displeased with the sight of your face.'
19:28
(Verse 28.) And behold, a flame was rising from the earth like the vapor of a furnace. Regarding this, we read in Hebrew: Behold, a rising (ἀναθυμίασις) of the furnace, which we can call vapor, smoke, or ashes.
19:30
(Verse 30.) And Lot went up from Segor and settled in the mountain, and his two daughters with him. For he was afraid to stay in Segor. It is asked why, when he first preferred the mountain of Segor for his escape, and wanted to be saved in it as his dwelling, he now flees from Segor back to the mountain? We will answer that the Hebrew conjecture about Segor is true, that it was frequently destroyed by earthquakes, first known as Bale, and later Salisa: and Lot feared, saying, If this place is often destroyed while the other cities still stand, how much more now, in a general destruction, will it not be able to be saved? And because of this occasion of unfaithfulness, they also gave rise to sexual relations with their daughters. For he who had seen other cities being destroyed and this one remaining, and himself being saved by the help of God, should not have doubted what he had heard granted to him. Therefore, the excuse that is given for the daughters, that they believed the human race had perished and therefore slept with their father, does not excuse the father. In fact, the Hebrews, as it follows:
19:35
(Verse 35.) And he did not know when she slept with him, and when he got up from her, they stabbed him from above, as if unbelievable, and something that nature cannot comprehend, to have intercourse with someone who is unaware.
19:36-11
(Versed. 36 seqq.) And the two daughters of Lot conceived by their father, and the firstborn son was born and she called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. And the younger, she also gave birth to a son, and she called his name Ammon, that is, son of my people. He is the father of the Ammonites. The name Moab means 'from the father' and has its etymology in it. But Ammon, whose name is given as if a cause, is derived as son of my race, or as it is better in Hebrew (), son of my people, so it is derived partly from the meaning of the name, partly from the language itself: Ammi, from whom the Ammonites are called, means my people.