and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
World English Bible
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and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
World English Bible
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Genesis 25:8-10 has Abraham buried in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron, on a plot he purchased from Ephron the Hittite. Stephen's speech in Acts 7:15-16 relocates Abraham's tomb to Shechem and has him purchasing the plot from 'the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem' — the tomb Jacob later buys in Genesis 33:19.
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Geography
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Genesis 50:13 has Jacob's sons carrying him into Canaan and burying him in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron, the family tomb purchased by Abraham. Stephen in Acts 7:15-16 says Jacob was "carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought" — which is fifty miles north of Machpelah, and which Abraham never bought.
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Geography
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Genesis 33:19 and Joshua 24:32 say Jacob bought a parcel of ground at Shechem from the sons of Hamor. Acts 7:16, in Stephen's speech, says Abraham bought the sepulchre at Shechem from the sons of Hamor.
Critical scholarship: Widely regarded as a genuine contradiction.
Historical detail
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
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This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Acts 7:16 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/acts/7/16?version=WEB (retrieved 26 August 2026).