Genesis 23:19

Summary

Genesis 23:19 reports that Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, located near Mamre, identified as Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The verse closes the narrative of the negotiation for the burial site described earlier in the chapter.

Key words

• ka.Var ("he buried", H6912) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, marking a completed action performed by Abraham.
• me.'a.Rat ("[the] cave of", H4631) — feminine singular construct, linking the cave directly to the following noun phrase "field of Machpelah."
• se.Deh ("[the] field of", H7704G) — masculine singular construct, forming a construct chain with ha.makh.pe.Lah ("Machpelah", H4375) to specify the exact field.
• pe.Nei ("[the] face of", H6440K) — masculine plural construct, used with the preposition 'al- ("on", H5921A) to produce the idiomatic phrase "on the face of," meaning facing or in front of Mamre.
• hi' ("that/she", H1931) — third person feminine singular pronoun, functioning here as a copula-like identifier equating Mamre's location with Hebron.

What the text says

The verse opens with the temporal marker ve'acharei-khen ("and after thus", H9002 + H0310A + H3651C), a fixed adverbial expression meaning "after this," which signals the conclusion of the preceding transaction narrative (Abraham's purchase of the field and cave from Ephron). The main clause follows a standard Hebrew verb-subject-object order: kaVar ("he buried") + Avraham ("Abraham") + the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) + Sarah + ishto ("his wife", H0802H with suffix H9023).

The burial location is expressed through a chain of construct nouns: me'arat sedeh ha-Makhpelah ("the cave of the field of Machpelah"), each noun in construct state (me'arat, sedeh) tightly binding the phrase into a single specified location — the cave belonging to the field called Machpelah. This is further situated with 'al-penei Mamre ("on the face of Mamre," i.e., facing or near Mamre), using the construct plural penei ("face of") in its common idiomatic sense of spatial orientation rather than a literal face.

The clause hi' Chevron ("that is Hebron") uses the pronoun hi' (H1931) as an identifying copula, a common Biblical Hebrew construction for glossing one place name with another. The verse ends with be'eretz Kena'an ("in the land of Canaan"), a construct phrase ('eretz, H0776G) anchoring the entire scene geographically.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ve'acharei-khen ("and after thus") as μετὰ ταῦτα ("after these things"), a close semantic equivalent. The Vulgate's Atque ita ("and thus") diverges slightly, emphasizing manner ("thus") rather than strict temporal sequence ("after"). Where the Hebrew has 'al-penei Mamre ("on the face of Mamre"), the LXX uses ἀπέναντι Μαμβρή ("opposite Mamre") and the Vulgate quae respiciebat Mambre ("which faced/looked toward Mamre"), both interpreting the idiom spatially in slightly different terms.