Genesis 25:10

Summary

The verse identifies the field Abraham purchased from the Hittites as the site where Abraham himself was buried, together with his wife Sarah. The sentence uses a relative clause to specify the field, then shifts to narrate the burial event.

Key words

• sadeh ("field", H7704G) — masculine singular noun, the subject of the relative clause, referring back to the previously mentioned parcel of land (the article ha marks it as definite, "the field").
• qanah ("he had acquired", H7069) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular; marks a completed past action, Abraham as the one who purchased the field.
• bene-Chet ("sons of Heth", H1121G + H2845) — construct plural noun + proper name, forming the genitive phrase "sons of Heth," i.e., the group from whom the field was bought.
• qubbar ("he was buried", H6912) — pual perfect, third person masculine singular; the pual stem marks an intensive passive, so the grammatical subject (Abraham) undergoes the action rather than performing it, without naming who performed the burial.
• ishto ("his wife", H0802H + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, linking Sarah to Abraham as "his wife," closing the verse by naming the second person buried at the site.

What the text says

The verse opens with a noun phrase, ha-sadeh ("the field", H9009+H7704G), followed by the relative particle 'asher ("which", H0834A) introducing a subordinate clause that identifies the field further: qanah 'Avraham me'et bene-Chet ("he acquired, Abraham, from the sons of Heth"). The compound preposition formed by me ("from", H9006) and 'et ("with", H0854) expresses source ("from with," i.e., "from"), governing bene-Chet in construct form.

The second half of the verse changes grammatical voice: shammah qubbar 'Avraham ("there he was buried, Abraham") uses the pual perfect qubbar, a passive form that reports the burial without specifying an agent — the text states that the action happened to Abraham, not who carried it out. The adverb shammah ("there", H8033G plus directional he, H9011) anchors the burial event spatially to the field just described. The clause concludes by adding ve-Sarah ishto ("and Sarah his wife", H9002+H8283+H0802H+H9023), joining Sarah to the subject of the passive verb through the conjunction ve.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds καὶ τὸ σπήλαιον ("and the cave"), a phrase with no corresponding word in the Hebrew text, which mentions only sadeh ("field", H7704G). The LXX also renders the burial with an active plural verb, ἔθαψαν ("they buried"), supplying an unnamed plural subject, where the Hebrew qubbar (H6912) is a passive form with no stated agent. The Vulgate's sepultus est ("he was buried") preserves the passive sense closer to the Hebrew construction.