Genesis 23:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: "Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead."

NIV: "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."

NASB: Hear us, my lord: you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.'

CSB: "Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."

NLT: Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.'

KJV: Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

NKJV: “Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

Abraham had approached the Hittite landowners in Hebron with great humility, asking for property to use as a permanent burying place for his people. Most immediately, he needed a place to bury his wife Sarah, who had just died (Genesis 23:1).

Their warm, kind response here echoes the nature of his request to them. Abraham had called himself a sojourner and foreigner. They call him a prince of God or mighty price of God among them. In other words, they do not view Abraham as a mere wanderer; they see him as powerful, blessed by God, and worthy to be among them.

In fact, very generously, they insist that none of them would withhold from Abraham his own tomb for the purpose of burying his people, presumably starting with Sarah. However, their response does not acknowledge Abraham's request for a property of his own. He is not asking to share a tomb; he is asking to acquire a permanent possession, as the following verses will make clear.

Genesis 23:1–20 begins with the death of Abraham's wife Sarah at 127 years of age. That makes Abraham 137 years old and Isaac around 37. Abraham mourns for his wife and then approaches the Hittites settled in the region of Hebron about purchasing a permanent family burial place near Mamre. Once that transaction is completed, Abraham buries Sarah in the tomb where he himself and their son and one grandson will later be buried.

At the age of 127 years old, Abraham's wife Sarah dies. Now living in the region of Hebron, near Mamre, Abraham approaches the local people, the Hittites, about purchasing a specific cave he wants to use as a permanent family burial place. Abraham asks for a cave owned by Ephron the Hittite. After an odd negotiation, Abraham agrees to buy the cave and a field attached to it for 400 shekels of silver. Finally, Abraham buries Sarah in this cave at Machpelah in the land of Canaan. The permanent occupation of the land of Canaan by God's people has begun.

In the previous chapters, Isaac was born, Ishmael was sent away, and Abraham prepared to offer Isaac as an offering to God. Genesis 23 jumps forward a couple of decades to the death of Sarah at 127 years old. Abraham mourns for her and then purchases a cave near Mamre as a permanent family burial place in the land of Canaan. In the following chapter, Abraham will set about finding Isaac a wife.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.