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Genesis 23:16

in Genesis 23

Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

KJV

And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

This verse in Genesis 23

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Current with the merchant - עבר לסחר ober lassocher, passing to or with the traveler - such as was commonly used by those who traveled about with merchandise of any sort. The word signifies the same as hawker or peddler among us.

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

according to the standard of the merchants

Abraham weighed out the four hundred shekels of silver in the hearing of the Hittites. Adam Clarke reads the standard of the merchants as the weight in use among travelling traders, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that merchants at the gate carried scales. Matthew Henry commends a sale made in public.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Observe, Though all the land of Canaan was Abraham's by promise, yet, the time of his possessing not having come, what he had now occasion for he bought and paid for. Note, Dominion is not founded in grace. The saints' title to an eternal inheritance does not entitle them to the possessions of this world, nor justify them in doing wrong.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Note, Prudence, as well as justice, directs us to be fair, and open, and above-board, in our dealings. Fraudulent contracts hate the light, and choose to be clandestine; but those that design honestly in their bargains care not who are witnesses to them.
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, Prudence, as well as justice, directs us to be fair, and open, and above-board, in our dealings. Fraudulent contracts hate the light, and choose to be clandestine; but those that design honestly in their bargains care not who are witnesses to them.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Abraham weighed . . . the silver--The money, amounting to £50 was paid in presence of the assembled witnesses; and it was weighed. The practice of weighing money, which is often in lumps or rings, each stamped with their weight, is still common in many parts of the East; and every merchant at the gates or the bazaar has his scales at his girdle.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Abraham weighed . . . the silver--The money, amounting to £50 was paid in presence of the assembled witnesses; and it was weighed. The practice of weighing money, which is often in lumps or rings, each stamped with their weight, is still common in many parts of the East; and every merchant at the gates or the bazaar has his scales at his girdle.

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁמַ֣עand he listened

    vaiyishma'H8085 →1159 times

  • אַבְרָהָם֮Abraham

    ʾavrahamH85 →175 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • עֶפְרוֹן֒Ephron

    ʾefronH6085 →14 times

  • וַיִּשְׁקֹ֤לand he weighed out

    vaiyishkolH8254 →

  • אַבְרָהָם֙Abraham

    ʾavrahamH85 →175 times

  • לְעֶפְרֹ֔ןfor Ephron

    leefronH6085 →14 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַכֶּ֕סֶףthe money

    hakesefH3701 →403 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • דִּבֶּ֖רhe had spoken

    diberH1696 →1141 times

  • בְּאָזְנֵ֣יin [the] ears of

    beazeneiH241 →187 times

  • בְנֵי־[the] people of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • חֵ֑תHeth

    chetH2845 →14 times

  • אַרְבַּ֤עfour

    ʾarba'H702 →318 times

  • מֵאוֹת֙hundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • שֶׁ֣קֶלshekel[s] of

    shekelH8255 →

  • כֶּ֔סֶףsilver

    kesefH3701 →403 times

  • עֹבֵ֖רpassing along

    ʾoverH5674 →556 times

  • לַסֹּחֵֽר׃to the trader

    lasocherH5503 →21 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Zechariah 11:12

    Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 26:15

      and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

    • Exodus 21:32

      If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

    • Luke 22:3–6

      Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.

    • Mark 14:10–11

      Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 45:12

    The 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.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    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.

    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.

  • Through

    Genesis 23:15

    “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.”

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 45:12

      The shekel will consist of twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels will equal one mina.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Genesis

The Burial of Sarah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Burial of Sarah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

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) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.