Genesis 50:13

Summary

The verse narrates that Jacob's sons carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, identifying this site as the same one Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial possession near Mamre. The sentence combines two narrative actions (carrying, burying) with a relative clause explaining the property's history.

Key words

• va-yyis'u ("and they carried", H5375H) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, opening the sequence of action.
• banav ("his sons", H1121A) — masculine plural noun in construct form with a possessive suffix, identifying the subject who performs the carrying and burying.
• me'arat ("cave of", H4631) — feminine singular construct noun, linking directly to sedeh ("field of", H7704G) to form the compound location "the cave of the field of Machpelah."
• qanah ("he had bought", H7069) — qal perfect verb, third person masculine singular, marking a completed prior action distinct from the main narrative sequence (the purchase happened before the burial being narrated).
• achuzzat ("a possession of", H0272) — feminine singular construct noun joined to qever ("a burial site", H6913), specifying the legal purpose of Abraham's earlier purchase.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two consecutive narrative verbs — va-yyis'u ("and they carried", H5375H) and va-yyiqberu ("and they buried", H6912) — both qal third person masculine plural forms with the narrative vav prefix, which chains sequential completed actions ("and then... and then..."). The subject banav ("his sons", H1121A) appears once, governing both verbs. The destination and burial site are marked with construct chains: artzah Kena'an ("the land of Canaan", H0776G) uses a directional he suffix on 'artza, while me'arat sedeh ha-Makhpelah ("the cave of the field of Machpelah", H4631/H7704G/H4375) stacks three nouns in a construct relationship, each modifying the next.

After the burial notice, the relative particle asher ("which", H0834A) introduces a subordinate clause using the qal perfect qanah ("he had bought", H7069), which grammatically marks an action completed prior to the main narrative timeline — this clause explains the field's legal history rather than continuing the story's forward motion. The phrase la-achuzzat-qever ("for a possession of a burial site", H0272/H6913) uses another construct chain to specify the purpose of Abraham's purchase. The location is further anchored by 'al-penei Mamre ("on the face of Mamre", H6440K/H4471G), a common Hebrew idiom for "in front of" or "near" a place.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders me'arat sedeh ha-Makhpelah ("the cave of the field of Machpelah") as "τὸ σπήλαιον τὸ διπλοῦν" ("the double cave"), interpreting or translating the place name Makhpelah (H4375) as a description ("double") rather than preserving it as a proper name. The Vulgate similarly reads "spelunca duplici" ("double cave"), following the same interpretive rendering rather than transliterating the toponym. The Hebrew text, by contrast, treats ha-Makhpelah as a proper place name.