Bible Strands
Genesis 23:3
Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham rises from beside Sarah’s corpse and addresses the Hittites in Hebron immediately following his mourning for her death (Genesis 23:2-4).
The words — The text highlights וַ/יָּ֙קָם (va/i.Ya.kom, "he arose") and אֶל־בְּנֵי־הַֽ/חִתִּ֔י (el-benê-ha/Chitti, "to the Hittites") to mark Abraham’s physical transition from mourning to negotiation.
The thread — This encounter with the Hittites echoes their genealogical origin in Genesis 10:15 and is followed by their reply in Genesis 23:5 and Abraham’s respectful bowing to them in Genesis 23:7.
Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to note Abraham’s deliberate shift from grief to diplomatic action while acknowledging his status as a landless foreigner seeking a legal burial plot.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:15 And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
- Genesis 23:5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,
- Genesis 23:7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
- Genesis 27:46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”
- Genesis 49:30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
- 1 Samuel 26:6 And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go with you,” answered Abishai.
- 2 Samuel 23:39 and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all.
- Genesis 25:10 This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.