American Standard Version
Genesis 23:4
4I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
Genesis 23:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
- New International Version (NIV)“I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)"I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
- New King James Version (NKJV)“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
Context of Genesis 23:4
2And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 3And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spake unto the children of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 6Hear us, my lord; thou art a prince of God 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.
Read all of Genesis 23Genesis 23:4 word by word
גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁ֥ב אָנֹכִ֖י עִמָּכֶ֑ם תְּנ֨וּ לִ֤י אֲחֻזַּת־קֶ֙בֶר֙ עִמָּכֶ֔ם וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה מֵתִ֖י מִלְּפָנָֽי׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Genesis 23:4
- Genesis 17:8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
- Genesis 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- Leviticus 25:23And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
- Psalms 39:12Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
- Psalms 105:12When they were but a few men in number, Yea, very few, and sojourners in it.
- Psalms 119:19I am a sojourner in the earth: Hide not thy commandments from me.
- Hebrews 11:9By faith he became a sojourner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
- 1 Peter 2:11Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- Genesis 3:19in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Genesis 49:30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place.
- Genesis 50:13for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
- Job 30:23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living.
- Ecclesiastes 6:3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
- Ecclesiastes 12:5yea, they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets:
- Acts 7:5and he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: and he promised that he would give it to him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Commentaries on Genesis 23:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4I am a stranger and a sojourner - It appears from Hebrews 11:13-16; 1 Peter 2:11, that these words refer more to the state of his mind than of his body. He felt that he had no certain dwelling place, and was seeking by faith a city that had foundations. Give me a possession of a burying place - It has been remarked that in different nations it was deemed ignominious to be buried in another's ground; probably this prevailed in early times in the east, and…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-20Verses 1-20 - The Death of Sarah 2. ארבע קרית qı̂ryat -'arba‛ “Qirjath-arba, city of Arba.” ארבע 'arba‛ “Arba, four.” 8. עפרון ‛eprôn “Ephron, of the dust, or resembling a calf.” צחר tshochar “Tsochar, whiteness.” 9. מכפלה makpêlâh “Makpelah, doubled.” The death and burial of Sarah are here recorded. This occasions the purchase of the field of Makpelah, in the cave of which is her sepulchre. Genesis 23:1-2 Sarah is the only woman whose age is recorded…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4Abraham negotiated with local Hittite elders to buy land for a burial site. These Hittites had moved south to Canaan from the large Hittite empire in what is now Turkey (compare 10:15). Abraham was a foreigner and an outsider among them. But he trusted God's promise that he would eventually own the land.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3-203. Abraham stood up, &c.--Eastern people are always provided with family burying-places; but Abraham's life of faith--his pilgrim state--had prevented him acquiring even so small a possession (Ac 7:5). spake unto the sons of Heth--He bespoke their kind offices to aid him in obtaining possession of a cave that belonged to Ephron--a wealthy neighbor.Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 23:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Genesis 23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries