“Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”
Parallel Translations
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“Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead.”
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Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince 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.
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'Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince 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.'
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Genesis 23:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 24:35 Yahweh has blessed my master greatly. He has become great. Yahweh has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
- Genesis 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his three hundred eighteen trained men, born in his house, and pursued as far as Dan.
- Genesis 13:2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
- Genesis 18:12 Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
- Genesis 21:22 At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
- Genesis 24:18 She said, “Drink, my lord.” She hurried, and let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him a drink.
- Genesis 31:35 She said to her father, “Don’t let my lord be angry that I can’t rise up before you; for I’m having my period.” He searched, but didn’t find the teraphim.
- Genesis 32:4-5 He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now. I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.’ ”
- Genesis 32:18 Then you shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’ ”
- Genesis 42:10 They said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.
- Genesis 44:5 Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”
- Genesis 44:8 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house?
- Exodus 32:22 Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
- Isaiah 45:14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
- 1 John 3:1-2 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
- Ruth 2:13 Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, because you have comforted me, and because you have spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not as one of your servants.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. Thou art a mighty prince among us The…
6. Thou art a mighty prince among us The Hittites gratuitously offer a burying-place to Abraham wherever he might please to choose one. They testify that they do this, as a tribute to his virtues. We have before seen, that the Hebrews give a divine title to anything which excels. Therefore we are to understand by the expression, ‘a prince of God,’ a person of great and singular excellency. And they properly signalize him whom they reverence for his virtues, with this eulogium; thereby testifying, that they ascribe to God alone, whatever virtues in men are deserving of praise and reverence. Now some seed of piety manifests itself in the Hittites, by thus doing honor to Abraham, whom they acknowledge to be adorned with rare gifts of the Spirit of God. For profane and brutal men tread under foot, with barbarous contempt, every excellent gift of God, as swine do pearls. And yet we know with how many vices those nations were defiled; how much greater then, and more disgraceful is our ingratitude, if we give no honor to the image of God, when it shines before our eyes? Abraham’s sanctity of manners procures him such favor with the Hittites, that they do not envy his preeminence among them; what excuse then is there for us, if we hold in less esteem those virtues in which the majesty of God is conspicuous? Truly their madness is diabolical, who not only despise the favors of God, but even ferociously oppose them.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, godly or excellent: for the Hebrews so…
That is, godly or excellent: for the Hebrews so speak of all things that are notable, because all excellency cometh of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 23:6 Hear us, my lord: thou [art] a…
Gen 23:6 Hear us, my lord: thou [art] a mighty prince 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.
Ver. 6. Thou art a prince of God amongst us.] That is, excellent or prosperous, as Gen 21:22; and it was their ingenuity and candour to acknowledge it. God’s people are "princes in all lands" {Psa 45:16} Kings they are in righteousness and peace; but somewhat obscure ones, as was Melehizedek, and therefore little set by. {1Jn 3:1-2} Unkent, unkist, as the northern proverb is. So was Christ the heir of all. But "we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him"; that is enough for us. In the meantime, "the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour" (let him dwell by whomsoever), and shall be more prosperous, if it may be for his good.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Hear us, my lord: here is a conjunction of…
Hear us, my lord: here is a conjunction of the plural and singular number, because though but one person spake, yet he spake in the name of the whole community.
A mighty prince; Heb. a prince of God. Great and excellent persons or things are oft expressed by adding the name of God. See Gen 13:10. Or, by prince of God, they understand a prince favoured and beloved of God.
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In the choice of our sepulchres; for each family had a distinct sepulchre.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Hear us, my lord,.... One of them spake in…
Hear us, my lord,.... One of them spake in the name of the rest, who calls Abraham not "our lord", but "my lord"; addressing him very honourably, and desires he would hear what he had to say on the behalf of others with himself; "hear us", representing not the body of the common people, but the princes among them, the heads of their families:
thou art a mighty prince amongst us; though he was pleased to call himself a stranger and a sojourner, yet they had an high opinion of him, as a person of great wealth and substance, and of great power and authority; and who lived like a prince, and was a potent one, having a large train of servants under him: or, "a prince of God" (x), as it may be rendered; one raised up to grandeur and dignity by him; with whom he was, find in whose sight he had favour, and was very grateful and acceptable; and by whom he was highly honoured, and had in great esteem as a friend of his:
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in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; as they had many, every family a distinct sepulchre for itself, they made offer of them to him, to bury his dead in the choicest of them, the most grand and magnificent, or in which of them soever he pleased; which was very kind, generous, and respectful:
none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead; there is not a man among us but what has such a regard for thee, that he will not deny thee the use of his sepulchre to bury thy dead in; and therefore need not scruple to make use of any that may be judged most proper and convenient: no doubt the speaker full well knew the mind of those in whose name he addressed Abraham.
(x) "princeps Dei", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Drusius, Schmidt, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thou art a prince of God among us -…
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.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Thou art a mighty prince] נשיא אלהים…
Verse 6. Thou art a mighty prince] נשיא אלהים nesi Elohim, a prince of God - a person whom we know to be Divinely favoured, and whom, in consequence, we deeply respect and reverence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 23:6. Thou art a prince of God —…
Gen 23:6. Thou art a prince of God — So it is in the original, not only great, but good. He called himself a stranger and a sojourner, they call him a great prince; and well they might, considering his wealth, prosperity, and retinue, and the simple manners of those times.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Prince of God, powerful and holy, and worthy of…
Prince of God, powerful and holy, and worthy of respect. (Haydock) --- A great prince. See Acts vii. 5, where St. Stephen says, that God did not give Abraham a foot of land, meaning as an inheritance; and that Abraham bought this double cave, for a sepulchre, of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem; (Calmet) from which latter he seems to derive the name of the place, which is here called Hebron. (Haydock) --- Nothing is more common, than for men and places to have two names; though some think, the name of Abraham has been inserted in the Acts by a mistake of the copyists, when Jacob was meant. See chap. xxxiii. 19. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Thou art a mighty prince — Hebrews, a…
6. Thou art a mighty prince — Hebrews, a prince of God. These Hitties had observed that Abraham was one on whom God had put honour. Compare Abimelech’s words in Gen_21:22.
In the choice — In the one thou may choose for thyself. Abraham had a choice, and in most respectful form he shows (Gen_23:8-9) that he has already made a choice in the possession of one of the Hittite chiefs. But to obtain it requires diplomacy and tact. If the ancient habits of making a bargain were like the modern in the East, all this generous liberality on the part of the sons of Heth was but a courteous formality, and was so understood by Abraham.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. my lord] A title of respect, Adoni (see…
6. my lord] A title of respect, Adoni (see note on Gen_18:3). LXX Κύριε, Lat. domine.
a mighty prince] Heb. a prince of God. The Hebrew idiom for the superlative, “a prince worthy to rank with the sons of God”: cf. Deu_33:1. For other instances, cf. Psa_36:6, “the mountains of God” = A.V. “the great mountains,” Psa_80:10, “cedars of God” = A.V. “the goodly cedars.” See note on Gen_10:9, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.” For “prince,” nâsî, cf. Eze_12:10; Eze_27:21; Eze_30:13; Eze_32:29; Eze_38:2.
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in the choice of, &c.] In the complimentary style of Orientals the preliminaries to a business transaction are characterized by the greatest deliberateness and the greatest generosity. The opening proposal is that Abraham should make use of one of the “choicest” Hittite sepulchres, for the burial of Sarah. Even if the offer was meant seriously, Abraham will not accept it; he wishes to possess a burial-place of his own. For the phrase “the choice,” cf. Isa_22:7; Isa_37:24. It means what we should express familiarly as “the pick of.”
Probably their complimentary phrase is intended to conceal their dislike of selling a grave.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) A mighty prince.—Heb., a prince of God. Comp.…
(6) A mighty prince.—Heb., a prince of God. Comp. “wind of God” (Gen_1:2); “wrestlings of God” (Gen_30:8); “mountains of God” (Psa_36:6); “cedars of God” (Psa_80:10). So also “a sleep of Jehovah” for a deep sleep (1Sa_26:12).
In the choice of our sepulchres.—The interview between Abraham and the Hittites is marked by the utmost courtesy on both sides, but it is a mistake to suppose that this acceptance of the patriarch’s proposal contained the idea that he might select a sepulchre without paying for it. The payment, in true Oriental fashion, is kept in the background, but is pre-supposed on both sides. After the acceptance of his proposal, it was Abraham’s turn to name the burying-place he wished, and the owner next consents, but while treating the purchase-money as a matter of small importance, he nevertheless asks a very high price, to which Abraham at once consents.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.