23:1 Vixit autem Sara centum viginti septem annis.
*H And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.
Ver. 1. Sara. She is the only woman whose age the Scripture specifies; a distinction which her exalted dignity and faith deserved. Gal. iv. 23. Heb. xi. 11. She was a figure of the Christian Church. C.
23:2 Et mortua est in civitate Arbee, quae est Hebron, in terra Chanaan : venitque Abraham ut plangeret et fleret eam.
*H And she died in the city of Arbee which is Hebron, in the land of Chanaan: and Abraham came to mourn and weep for her.
Ver. 2. City. Heb. Cariath arbah, Jos. xiv. 15. — Which is Hebron. Serarius thinks it took its name from the society (cherber) between Abraham and the princes of the city. Hebron the son of Caleb possessed it afterwards. — Came from Bersabee, (G. xxii. 19.) or to the place where the corpse lay, at Arbee, which signifies four; as Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their four wives, reposed there. C. — And weep. In the middle of this word, in the printed Hebrew, there is left a small c; whence the Rabbins ridiculously infer, that Abraham wept but a short time. But the retaining of greater, less, suspended and inverted letters in the Hebrew Bible, can be attributed to no other cause than a scrupulous veneration even for the faults of transcribers. Kennicott.
A.M. 2145, A.C. 1859.
23:3 Cumque surrexisset ab officio funeris, locutus est ad filios Heth, dicens :
*H And after he rose up from the funeral obsequies, he spoke to the children of Heth, saying:
Ver. 3. Obsequies, or solemn mourning, accompanied with prayer. Acts viii. 2. Matt. xii. The Jews are still accustomed to say, when they bury their dead, "Ye fathers, who sleep in Hebron, open to him the gates of Eden;" herein agreeing with the Catholic doctrine, as they did in the days of Judas the Machabee. H.
23:4 Advena sum et peregrinus apud vos : date mihi jus sepulchri vobiscum, ut sepeliam mortuum meum.
I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead.
23:5 Responderunt filii Heth, dicentes :
The children of Heth answered, saying:
23:6 Audi nos, domine : princeps Dei es apud nos : in electis sepulchris nostris sepeli mortuum tuum, nullusque te prohibere poterit quin in monumento ejus sepelias mortuum tuum.
*H My lord, hear us, thou art a prince of God among us: bury thy dead in our principal sepulchres: and no man shall have power to hinder thee from burying thy dead in his sepulchre.
Ver. 6. Prince of God, powerful and holy, and worthy of respect. H. — A great prince. See Acts vii. 5. where S. Stephen says, that God did not give Abraham a foot of land, meaning as an inheritance; and that Abraham bought this double cave, for a sepulchre, of the sons of Hemor, the son of Sichem; (C.) from which latter he seems to derive the name of the place, which is here called Hebron. H. — Nothing is more common, than for men and places to have two names; though some think, the name of Abraham has been inserted in the Acts by a mistake of the copyists, when Jacob was meant. See G. xxxiii. 19. C.
23:7 Surrexit Abraham, et adoravit populum terrae, filios videlicet Heth :
*H Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to wit, the children of Heth:
Ver. 7. Bowed down to the people. Adoravit, literally, adored. But this word here, as well as in many other places in the Latin Scriptures, is used to signify only an inferior honour and reverence paid to men, expressed by a bowing down of the body.
23:8 dixitque ad eos : Si placet animae vestrae ut sepeliam mortuum meum, audite me, et intercedite pro me apud Ephron filium Seor :
And said to them: If it please your soul that I should bury my dead, hear me, and intercede for me to Ephron the son of Seor.
23:9 ut det mihi speluncam duplicem, quam habet in extrema parte agri sui : pecunia digna tradat eam mihi coram vobis in possessionem sepulchri.
That he may give me the double cave, which he hath in the end of his field: For as much money as it is worth he shall give it me before you, for a possession of a burying place.
23:10 Habitabat autem Ephron in medio filiorum Heth. Responditque Ephron ad Abraham, cunctis audientibus qui ingrediebantur portam civitatis illius, dicens :
Now Ephron dwelt in the midst of the children of Heth. And Ephron made answer to Abraham in the hearing of all that went in at the gate of the city, saying:
23:11 Nequaquam ita fiat, domine mi, sed tu magis ausculta quod loquor. Agrum trado tibi, et speluncam quae in eo est, praesentibus filiis populi mei ; sepeli mortuum tuum.
Let it not be so, my lord, but do thou rather hearken to what I say: The field I deliver to thee, and the cave that is therein; in the presence of the children of my people, bury thy dead.
23:12 Adoravit Abraham coram populo terrae.
Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.
23:13 Et locutus est ad Ephron circumstante plebe : Quaeso ut audias me : dabo pecuniam pro agro : suscipe eam, et sic sepeliam mortuum meum in eo.
And he spoke to Ephron, in the presence of the people: I beseech thee to hear me: I will give money for the field; take it, and so will I bury my dead in it.
23:14 Responditque Ephron :
And Ephron answered:
23:15 Domine mi, audi me : terra, quam postulas, quadringentis siclis argenti valet : istud est pretium inter me et te : sed quantum est hoc ? sepeli mortuum tuum.
My lord, hear me. The ground which thou desirest, is worth four hundred sicles of silver: this is the price between me and thee: but what is this? bury thy dead.
23:16 Quod cum audisset Abraham, appendit pecuniam, quam Ephron postulaverat, audientibus filiis Heth, quadringentos siclos argenti probatae monetae publicae.
*H And when Abraham had heard this, he weighed out the money that Ephron had asked, in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred sicles of silver, of common current money.
Ver. 16. Sicles. About £50. H. — It was no simony to buy land for a sepulchre, as it was not blessed. M. — Current money, was such as passed among merchants, though probably not yet coined in any part of the world; and therefore we find, that Abraham and others weigh the pieces of silver or gold. In this manner were bargains concluded before witnesses, who in those days supplied the want of writings and lawyers. C.
23:17 Confirmatusque est ager quondam Ephronis, in quo erat spelunca duplex, respiciens Mambre, tam ipse, quam spelunca, et omnes arbores ejus in cunctis terminis ejus per circuitum,
And the field that before was Ephron's, wherein was the double cave, looking towards Mambre, both it and the cave, and all the trees thereof, in all its limits round about,
23:18 Abrahae in possessionem, videntibus filiis Heth, et cunctis qui intrabant portam civitatis illius.
Was made sure to Abraham for a possession, in the sight of the children of Heth, and of all that went in at the gate of his city.
23:19 Atque ita sepelivit Abraham Saram uxorem suam in spelunca agri duplici, quae respiciebat Mambre. Haec est Hebron in terra Chanaan.
And so Abraham buried Sara, his wife, in the double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan.
23:20 Et confirmatus est ager, et antrum quod erat in eo, Abrahae in possessionem monumenti a filiis Heth.
And the field was made sure to Abraham, and the cave that was in it, for a possession to bury in, by the children of Heth.