Genesis 23:1-3 New English Translation
The Death of Sarah
23 Sarah lived 127 years.[a] 2 Then she[b] died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.[c]
3 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife[d] and said to the sons of Heth,[e]
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- Genesis 23:1 tn Heb “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”
- Genesis 23:2 tn Heb “Sarah.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“she”) for stylistic reasons.
- Genesis 23:2 sn Mourn…weep. The description here is of standard mourning rites (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD3 149-50). They would have been carried out in the presence of the corpse, probably in Sarah’s tent. So Abraham came in to mourn; then he rose up to go and bury his dead (v. 3).
- Genesis 23:3 tn Heb “And Abraham arose from upon the face of his dead.”
- Genesis 23:3 tn Heb “sons of Heth,” the gentilic of which is הִתִּי (hitti) “Hittites.” Some translations use “Hittites” here (also in vv. 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 20). But these people were not the classical Hittites of Anatolia (in Asia Minor, modern Turkey). These sons of Heth are apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15). See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World 152-53. But cf. also V. Hamilton, Genesis 18-50 (NICOT), 126-128.
New English Translation (NET)
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