Genesis 23:20

Summary

Genesis 23:20 closes the transaction narrated in the chapter: the field and the cave within it are formally established as Abraham's possession, acquired from the sons of Heth. The verse functions as a legal confirmation formula rather than a narrative action.

Key words

• i.Ya.kom ("it was confirmed", H6965I) — qal (active) verbal form of the root meaning "to stand/rise," here used with a legal-confirmative sense despite its active morphology; it takes the compound subject "the field and the cave."
• achuzat ("a possession of", H0272) — feminine singular construct noun; construct state links it forward to Kaver ("burial site"), producing the phrase "possession of a burial site."
• asher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a clause that identifies the cave as being "in it" (referring back to the field).
• me'Et ("from with", H0854 + H9006) — a doubled preposition construction, "from with," marking the source from which the property passed.
• bene-Chet ("sons of Heth", H1121G + H2845) — construct chain naming the group ("Heth" is the person, "sons of" designates his descendants/people) from whom the field was acquired.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence places "the field and the cave" (ha-sadeh ve-ha-me'arah) as the grammatical subject of the verb i.Ya.kom, which is morphologically qal (simple active) but conveys a passive/stative sense — "it stood confirmed" rather than "someone confirmed it." The verb is singular, agreeing with the nearer or primary noun of the compound subject, a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew when a plural or compound subject follows the verb. The relative clause asher-bo ("which [was] in it") specifies that the cave is located within the field. The phrase le-Avraham la-achuzat-Kaver stacks two prepositional/construct elements: "to Abraham" marks the recipient, and "for a possession of a burial site" (construct chain) specifies the legal purpose of the transfer. Finally, me'Et bene-Chet ("from with the sons of Heth") identifies the prior holders, using a doubled preposition that emphasizes source rather than mere possession.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as ekyrothe ("was ratified/confirmed"), an explicit passive, and the Vulgate follows with confirmatus est ("was confirmed"), also passive — both making explicit the passive sense that the Hebrew qal form only implies contextually. The BSB restructures the sentence to make "the Hittites" the explicit grammatical subject ("were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham"), whereas the Hebrew subject is "the field and the cave," with the sons of Heth appearing only in the closing source-phrase me'Et bene-Chet.