Genesis 23 · Verse 4

Genesis 23:4

I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
Genesis 23:4, King James Version

Genesis 23:4 in other translations

BSB“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
WEB“I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
ASVI am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
YLT‘A sojourner and a settler I am with you; give to me a possession of a burying-place with you, and I bury my dead from before me.'
DARBYI am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a sepulchre with you, that I may bury my dead from before me.
BBEI am living among you as one from a strange country: give me some land here as my property, so that I may put my dead to rest.
WebsterI am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

What does Genesis 23:4 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 I am a stranger and a sojourner - It appears from Heb 11:13-16; 1Pet 2:11, that these words refer more to the state of his mind than of his body. He felt that he had no certain dwelling place, and was seeking by faith a city that had foundations. Give me a possession of a burying place - It has been remarked that in different nations it was deemed ignominious to be buried in another's ground; probably this prevailed in early times in the east, and it may be in reference to a sentiment of this kind that Abraham refuses to accept the offer of the children of Heth to bury in any of their sepulchers, and earnestly requests them to sell him one, that he might bury his wife in a place that he could claim as his own.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 23:1-13

Chapter Outline The death of Sarah, Abraham applies for a burying-place. (1-13) Sarah's burying-place. (14-20) Verses 1-13 The longest life must shortly come to a close. Blessed be God that there is a world where sin, death, vanity, and vexation cannot enter. Blessed be his name, that even death cannot part believers from union with Christ. Those whom we most love, yea, even our own bodies, which we so care for…

Read the full comment on Genesis 23:1-13 →

Genesis 23:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

גֵּר\־ger-[am] a sojournerH1616
וְתוֹשָׁ֥בve.to.Shavand a resident alienH8453
אָנֹכִ֖י'a.no.KhiIH595
עִמָּכֶ֑ם'i.ma.Khemwith youH5973
תְּנ֨וּte.NugiveH5414
לִ֤יlito <the> me
אֲחֻזַּת\־'a.chu.zat-a possession ofH272
קֶ֙בֶר֙ke.vera burial siteH6913
עִמָּכֶ֔ם'i.ma.Khemwith youH5973
וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥הve.'ek.be.Rahso let me buryH6912
מֵתִ֖יme.Tidead myH4191
מִלְּפָנָֽי\׃mi.le.fa.Naifrom to before meH6440

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 23:4

  • Hebrews 11:9

    By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

  • 1 Chronicles 29:15

    For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

  • Genesis 17:8

    And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

  • Psalms 119:19

    I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

  • Psalms 39:12

    Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

  • Leviticus 25:23

    The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

  • Genesis 49:30

    In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

  • Hebrews 11:13-16

    These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

  • Acts 7:5

    And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

  • Ecclesiastes 12:5

    Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

  • Ecclesiastes 12:7

    Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

  • Ecclesiastes 6:3

    If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
stranger.
17:8; 47:9; Le 25:23; 1Ch 29:15; Ps 39:12; 105:12,13; 119:19
Heb 11:9,13-16; 1Pe 2:11
buryingplace.
3:19; 49:30; 50:13; Job 30:23; Ec 6:3; 12:5,7; Ac 7:5
bury.
19

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 23:3

    And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

  • Genesis 23:4

    I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

  • Genesis 23:5

    And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

Read all of Genesis 23

Genesis 23:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Peregrino y advenedizo soy entre vosotros; dadme heredad de sepultura con vosotros, y sepultaré mi muerto de delante de mí.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Je suis étranger, habitant parmi vous; donnez-moi la possession d’un sépulcre parmi vous, et j’enterrerai mon mort de devant moi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich bin ein Fremdling und Beisasse bei euch; gebet mir ein Erbbegräbnis bei euch, daß ich meine Tote begrabe vor meinem Angesicht hinweg.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Advena sum et peregrinus apud vos: date mihi jus sepulchri vobiscum, ut sepeliam mortuum meum.