What Does Genesis 23:17 Mean?
And so the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, within all its borders round about, stood firm.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sureTHE KEY
“Were made sure” pictures the property standing firm as a whole, with its cave, trees, and full boundary included.
THE MEANING
The field, its cave, every tree, and all its surrounding boundaries stand together as one secured transfer. What is made sure is a physical place with clearly named contents and limits.
THE ROOT
וַיָּקָם
wayyaqom
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
Rise, stand, or be established.
“stood firm” in this verse is wayyaqom. The Hebrew verb carries the image of something coming to stand firm. Here that standing includes the cave, trees, and enclosing boundary, so the security reaches the whole property described.
ALSO GROWS
heqim: Establish, set up, raise.
הֵקִים
This same root makes establishment a kind of bringing something into standing, clarifying the force of “made sure.”
maqom: Place, site.
מָקוֹם
This noun comes from the same root; the thing established here is a particular place, with its contents and boundaries.
THE PATTERN
A matter comes to stand securely when it is established or publicly confirmed.
And I will make my covenant stand between me and you, and your seed after you in their generations, for a covenant of the ages, to be God to you and to your seed after you.One witness shall not rise up against a man for any crookedness, or for any falling short, in it he misses the mark; upon the mouth of two witnesses, or upon the mouth of three witnesses, the word shall stand.But if he does not hear you, take along with you one or two more, so that upon the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.THE THREAD
And I will make my covenant stand between me and you, and your seed after you in their generations, for a covenant of the ages, to be God to you and to your seed after you.The same root, קום (qum, “stand” or “be established”), appears in both verses. Here it describes a field, cave, trees, and boundaries standing secured; there it describes a covenant established across generations.
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