Genesis 23:15

Summary

Ephron responds to Abraham, addressing him as 'adoni ("my lord", H0113) and asking to be heard. He names a price of four hundred shekels of silver for the land, then minimizes the sum by asking rhetorically what such an amount is between the two of them, closing with an imperative to bury the dead.

Key words

• 'adoni ("my lord", H0113) — construct noun with 1st-person suffix -i ("my"), a polite vocative opening the speech.
• shema'eni ("listen to me", H8085G) — qal imperative with 1st-person object suffix -ni ("me"), a direct command form addressed to Abraham.
• 'erets ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular construct, linking to the following numerical phrase to specify what is being valued.
• beini / beinekha ("between me" / "between you", H0996G) — construct noun with pronominal suffixes, repeated to frame the rhetorical question about the sum's significance "between" the two parties.
• qevor ("bury", H6912) — qal imperative, the final command closing the speech, paired with 'et-metekha ("your dead", H4191 + H9021), a participle used as a substantive meaning "the one who is dead" belonging to Abraham.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a vocative-imperative pair, 'adoni shema'eni ("my lord, listen to me"), before introducing the price through a chain of construct nouns: 'erets ("land of") governing 'arba' me'ot sheqel-kesef ("four hundred shekels of silver"), literally "land of four hundreds of shekel of silver." This construct chain places "land" as the head noun modified by the numerical value, so the Hebrew syntax presents the land itself as the grammatical subject bearing the price, rather than stating explicitly that the land "is worth" that amount — a nuance that translations supply as "is worth" or "vale" where the Hebrew simply juxtaposes nouns in construct.

The phrase beini uveinekha mah-hi' ("between me and between you, what is it?") uses the interrogative mah ("what?", H4100) with the feminine pronoun hi' ("she/it", H1931), agreeing with the feminine noun 'erets ("land") referenced earlier — the question grammatically points back to the land/price as its feminine antecedent. The clause functions as a rhetorical question minimizing the significance of the sum. The sentence closes with the object marker 'et (H0853) preceding metekha ("your dead", a participle used as a substantive, H4191, with suffix H9021), followed by the imperative qevor ("bury", H6912), giving a terse final command.

Differences between versions

The LXX opens with Οὐχί, κύριε ("No, lord"), an initial negation not present in the Hebrew, which begins directly with 'adoni shema'eni ("my lord, listen to me") without a negating particle. The LXX also renders the price in διδράχμων ("didrachms"), a Greek monetary unit differing from the Hebrew sheqel (H8255). The Vulgate expands the construct chain into a fuller clause, "terra, quam postulas... valet" ("the land which you ask for is worth"), making explicit the valuation that the Hebrew construct phrase leaves implicit. The SBLIBRE Spanish translation renders metekha ("your dead") as "su esposa" ("your wife"), specifying the referent of the participle met ("dead", H4191) beyond what the Hebrew text states.