Genesis 23:6

Summary

The Hittites respond to Abraham's request for a burial site, addressing him with the imperative she.ma.'Enu ("listen to us", H8085) and the honorific 'adoni ("my lord", H0113). They designate him as nesi 'Elohim ("a prince of God", H5387A/H0430), grant him free choice among their tombs, and affirm that none among them will refuse him a burial place for his dead.

Key words

• she.ma.'Enu ("listen to us", H8085G) — qal imperative plural addressed to Abraham, opening the speech as a direct plea.
• nesi ("prince of", H5387A) — construct noun forming a genitive chain with 'Elohim, producing the title "prince of God" without a copula verb; Hebrew supplies "you are" only through the following pronoun 'attah.
• 'Elohim ("God", H0430G) — plural noun functioning here as the genitive element of the construct phrase.
• yikhleh ("he will withhold", H3607) — qal imperfect, third person, expressing a future/ongoing negation when combined with lo' ("not", H3808): "he will not withhold."
• miqevor ("from burying", H6912) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed min ("from"), expressing purpose/means: "from burying your dead."

What the text says

The verse opens with two imperatives directed at Abraham: she.ma.'Enu ("listen to us") and later qevor ("bury", H6912). Between them sits a nominal clause with no explicit verb "to be": nesi 'Elohim 'attah betokhenu — literally "a prince of God, you, in our midst." The construct chain nesi... 'Elohim links "prince" and "God" without an intervening preposition, a typical Hebrew genitive structure that English must render with "of."

The final sentence uses a marked word order: 'ish mimennu 'et-qivro lo' yikhleh mimkha miqevor metekha — "a man from us, his grave, he will not withhold from you, from burying your dead." The object 'et-qivro ("his grave") is placed before the verb yikhleh, fronting the item being denied rather than the subject 'ish ("a man," H0376I). This fronting emphasizes the object (the grave) as the focus of the promise, a nuance that flows less naturally in English translations, which typically reorder to subject-verb-object.

Differences between versions

The LXX opens with Μή ("no"), an interjection absent from the Hebrew text, and renders nesi 'Elohim as basileus para theou ("king from God") rather than the more literal "prince of God" found in the Hebrew and preserved in the Vulgate's princeps Dei. The LXX also adds ἐκεῖ ("there") at the end of the verse, a word with no counterpart in the Hebrew miqevor metekha ("from burying your dead"). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew construct structure closely, preserving "princeps Dei es apud nos" as a direct equivalent to nesi 'Elohim 'attah betokhenu.