What Does Genesis 23:20 Mean in the King James?
And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
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
The burial place becomes secure through a word that means “stand,” so even death is given a place that endures.
THE MEANING
The field and cave stand as a settled possession with a specific purpose: a place for burial. The verse holds permanence and death together, showing that what is secure can include a place for burial, not only a place for living.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A secure inheritance must remain a place only for living, untouched by death or grief.
THE ROOT
וַיָּקָם
wayyāqām
GROWS FROM
קום
qûm
To rise, stand, or be established.
The Hebrew word rendered “made sure” also carries the sense of standing. Its root family includes הֵקִים (hēqîm, “establish”) and מָקוֹם (māqôm, “place”), so the burial holding is pictured as something established in its place.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: Arise, stand.
קוּם
The root gives the confirmation a sense of standing firm.
hēqîm: Raise up, establish.
הֵקִים
This causative form shows how something is made to stand as an established reality.
māqôm: Place.
מָקוֹם
This related word for place echoes the field and cave standing as a specific, enduring location.
THE PATTERN
A settled reality is pictured as something made to stand in its place and endure.
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 sureAnd I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.THE THREAD
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 same וַיָּקָם (wayyāqām, from קום, qûm, “stand”) describes the field and cave as made sure. The repeated word lets “standing” carry both the firmness of the possession and the image of a place that remains.
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