What Does Genesis 23:16 Mean in the King James?
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here listening becomes weight: Abraham answers Ephron’s public word by putting its exact value on the scale.
THE MEANING
A word heard in public takes material form: the silver is weighed according to the amount already named before witnesses. The verse keeps the cost visible, four hundred shekels, so the agreement appears as a specific exchange.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁקֹל
vayyishqol
GROWS FROM
שקל
To weigh or measure by weight.
The same root gives the word for a shekel, a unit of weight that also serves as money. The silver is literally weighed, so its value remains a physical measure in the exchange.
ALSO GROWS
sheqel: A shekel; a unit of weight and a monetary unit.
שֶׁקֶל
The amount is named in shekels because the silver’s value is expressed through weight.
mishqal: Weight or weighing.
מִשְׁקָל
This branch names the measure itself, keeping the act of weighing at the center of the word-family.
וַיִּשְׁמַע
vayyishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“hearkened” in this verse is vayyishmaʿ. Shamaʿ means hearing and can carry the sense of heeding when the context calls for it. The verse places that listening beside weighing: Abraham receives Ephron’s stated terms, then gives them measurable substance.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar form of the root brings hearing together with response, as the next action in the verse makes concrete.
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows the root’s range from hearing itself to what is heard and communicated.
THE PATTERN
A spoken bargain becomes materially legible through a stated price.
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.THE THREAD
And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.Jeremiah uses the same root, שקל (shaqal, to weigh), for silver paid in a field purchase. In both verses, agreement becomes tangible through measured weight.
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