And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
And the sons of Heth answer Abraham, saying to him,
And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Voices1
With a title of respect: Thou art a prince of God among us, so the word is; not only great, but good. He called himself a stranger and a sojourner; they call him a great prince; for those that humble themselves shall be exalted. God had promised to make Abraham's name great.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches3
But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.
Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,
And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
