Kejadian 23:8-12

23:8 Then he said to them, “If you agree ¹  that I may bury my dead, ²  then hear me out. ³  Ask ⁴  Ephron the son of Zohar 23:9 if he will sell ⁵  me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly ⁶  for the full price, ⁷  so that I may own it as a burial site.”

23:10 (Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hethite ⁸  replied to Abraham in the hearing ⁹  of the sons of Heth – before all who entered the gate ¹⁰  of his city – 23:11 “No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell ¹¹  you both the field and the cave that is in it. ¹²  In the presence of my people ¹³  I sell it to you. Bury your dead.”

23:12 Abraham bowed before the local people

[23:8]  ¹ tn Heb “If it is with your purpose.” The Hebrew noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) here has the nuance “purpose” or perhaps “desire” (see BDB 661 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ).

[23:8]  ² tn Heb “bury my dead out of my sight.” The last phrase “out of my sight” has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:8]  ³ tn Or “hear me.”

[23:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “intercede for me with.”

[23:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “give.” This is used here (also a second time later in this verse) as an idiom for “sell”; see the note on the word “grant” in v. 4.

[23:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your presence.”

[23:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “silver.”

[23:10]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “Hittite,” but see the note on the name “Heth” in v. 3.

[23:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “ears.” By metonymy the “ears” stand for the presence or proximity (i.e., within earshot) of the persons named.

[23:10]  ¹⁰ sn On the expression all who entered the gate see E. A. Speiser, “‘Coming’ and ‘Going’ at the City Gate,” BASOR 144 (1956): 20-23; and G. Evans, “‘Coming’ and ‘Going’ at the City Gate: A Discussion of Professor Speiser’s Paper,” BASOR 150 (1958): 28-33.

[23:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “give.” The perfect tense has here a present nuance; this is a formal, legally binding declaration. Abraham asked only for a burial site/cave within the field; Ephron agrees to sell him the entire field.

[23:11]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text adds “to you I give [i.e., sell] it.” This is redundant in English and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[23:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “in the presence of the sons of my people.”