Genesis 23:14
in Genesis 23Ephron answered Abraham,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
KJV
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
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This verse in Genesis 23
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on Genesis 23:11-15
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.
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. Abraham does not argue, and he weighs the silver out according to the standard of the merchants, metal on a scale. Jeremiah pays seventeen shekels for a field at Anathoth.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Genesis 23:14-15
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?
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
‘LU’ (IF) THOU WILT HEAR ME. This is equivalent to saying, “If you, if you will hear me,” and the purport thereof is like, “if you, if you would hear me,” the redundancy being for the purpose of emphasizing the matter.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּ֧עַן | vaiyaan | and he answered | H6030 → | 331 times |
| עֶפְר֛וֹן | efron | Ephron | H6085 → | 14 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַבְרָהָ֖ם | ʾavraham | Abraham | H85 → | 175 times |
| לֵאמֹ֥ר | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | to <the> him |
וַיַּ֧עַןand he answered
vaiyaanH6030 →331 times
עֶפְר֛וֹןEphron
efronH6085 →14 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אַבְרָהָ֖םAbraham
ʾavrahamH85 →175 times
לֵאמֹ֥ר<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
לֽוֹ׃to <the> him
lo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Genesis
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.