Genesis Chapter 23 verse 14 Holy Bible
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
read chapter 23 in ASV
So Ephron said to Abraham,
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And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
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And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
read chapter 23 in KJV
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
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Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
read chapter 23 in WEB
And Ephron answereth Abraham, saying to him,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 14, 15. - And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. The word "shekel," from shakal, to weigh, here used for the first time, was not a stamped coin, but a piece of metal of definite weight, according to Exodus 30:13, equal to twenty gerahs, or beans, from garar, to roll. Coined money was unknown to the Hebrews until after the captivity. In the time of the Maccabees (1 Macc. 15:6) silver coins were struck bearing the inscription שקל ישראל. According to Josephus (Ant., iii. 8, 2) the shekel in use in his day was equal to four Athenian drachmae; and if, as is believed, these were one-fifth larger than the old shekels coined by Simon Maccabeus, the weight of the latter would be equal to three and one-third drachms, or two hundred grains, reckoning sixty grains to a drachm. It is impossible to ascertain the weight of the shekel current with the merchant in the time of Abraham; but reckoning it at a little less than 2s. 6d. sterling, the price of Ephron's field must have been somewhat under £50; a very consider able sum of money, which the Hittite merchant begins to depreciate by representing as a trifle, saying, What is that betwixt me and thee? - words which are still heard in the East on similar occasions (vide ' Land and Book,' p. 578) - bury therefore thy dead.
