Genesis 23:15
in Genesis 23“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My lord, hearken unto me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
KJV
My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
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This verse in Genesis 23
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe land is worth four hundred shekels of silver - Though the words is worth are not in the text, yet they are necessarily expressed here to adapt the Hebrew to the idiom of our tongue.
This site's exposition
Ephron answered Abraham
on Genesis 23:14-16
The price comes wrapped as a courtesy: four hundred shekels of silver, and what is that between you and me. Jeremiah pays seventeen shekels for a field at Anathoth, and David pays fifty for a threshing floor and its oxen. Abraham does not argue. He weighs the silver out according to the standard of the merchants, which was metal on a scale.
This site's exposition
but what is that between you and me
Ephron names the price as four hundred shekels of silver. Adam Clarke notes that the words is worth are added in English to suit its idiom. Matthew Henry and John Wesley call Ephron sincere, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call his offer a show.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver - About fifty pounds of our money, but what is that between me and thee? - He would rather oblige his friend than have so much money.
Great courtesy, and obligingness to his friend and neighbour. Ephron was not jealous of Abraham as a resident foreigner, nor envious at him as a man likely to thrive and grow rich. He bore him no ill-will for his singularity in religion, but was much kinder to him than most people now-a-days are to their own brothers: What is that between me and thee?
The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver - About fifty pounds of our money, but what is that between me and thee? - He would rather oblige his friend than have so much money.
My lord, hearken unto me,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Ephron answered, Nay, my lord, &c.--Here is a great show of generosity, but it was only a show; for while Abraham wanted only the cave, he joins "the field and the cave"; and though he offered them both as free gifts, he, of course, expected some costly presents in return, without which, he would not have been satisfied.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the land is worth four hundred shekels, &c.--as if Ephron had said, "Since you wish to know the value of the property, it is so and so; but that is a trifle, which you may pay or not as it suits you." They spoke in the common forms of Arab civility, and this indifference was mere affectation.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲדֹנִ֣י | ʾadoni | O lord my | H113 → | 333 times |
| שְׁמָעֵ֔נִי | shemaeni | listen to me | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אֶרֶץ֩ | ʾeretz | land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אַרְבַּ֨ע | ʾarba' | four | H702 → | 318 times |
| מֵאֹ֧ת | meot | hundred<s> | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שֶֽׁקֶל־ | shekel- | shekel[s] of | H8255 → | |
| כֶּ֛סֶף | kesef | silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| בֵּינִ֥י | beini | between me | H996 → | 407 times |
| וּבֵֽינְךָ֖ | uveinekha | and between you | H996 → | 407 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| הִ֑וא | hi' | [is] it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מֵתְךָ֖ | metekha | dead your | H4191 → | 839 times |
| קְבֹֽר׃ | kevor | bury | H6912 → | 133 times |
אֲדֹנִ֣יO lord my
ʾadoniH113 →333 times
שְׁמָעֵ֔נִיlisten to me
shemaeniH8085 →1159 times
אֶרֶץ֩land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
אַרְבַּ֨עfour
ʾarba'H702 →318 times
מֵאֹ֧תhundred<s>
meotH3967 →581 times
שֶֽׁקֶל־shekel[s] of
shekel-H8255 →
כֶּ֛סֶףsilver
kesefH3701 →403 times
בֵּינִ֥יbetween me
beiniH996 →407 times
וּבֵֽינְךָ֖and between you
uveinekhaH996 →407 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
הִ֑וא[is] it
hi'H1931 →1879 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
מֵתְךָ֖dead your
metekhaH4191 →839 times
קְבֹֽר׃bury
kevorH6912 →133 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 30:13Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
it leads to
- Leviticus 27:25
Every valuation will be according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 3:47
you are to collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel of twenty gerahs.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 45:12
The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
- Exodus 38:26
a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
- Leviticus 27:25
Through
Ezekiel 45:12The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.
it leads to
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- Exodus 30:13
Through
Exodus 30:15In making the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives, the rich shall not give more than a half shekel, nor shall the poor give less.
it leads to
- Numbers 31:50
So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
- Ephesians 6:9
And masters, do the same for your slaves. Give up your use of threats, because you know that He who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism…
- Exodus 30:12
“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when…
- Numbers 31:50
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.