GEN 23

Genesis 23:2

WEB

Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

BSB

She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.

KJV

And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Matthew Henry

Verses 1–2

Genesis 23:1–2

We have here, 1. Sarah's age, Gen 23:1. Almost forty years before, she had called herself old, Gen 18:12. Old people will die never the sooner, but may die the better, for reckoning themselves old. 2. Her death, Gen 23:2. The longest liver must die at last. Abraham and Sarah had lived comfortably together many years; but death parts those whom nothing else could part. The special friends and favourites of Heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. She died in the land of Canaan, where she had been above sixty years a sojourner. 3. Abraham's mourning for her; and he was a true mourner. He did not only perform the ceremonies of mourning according to the custom of those time, as the mourners that go about the streets, but he did sincerely lament the great loss he had of a good wife, and gave proof of the constancy of his affection to her to the last. Two words are used: he came both to mourn and to weep. His sorrow was not counterfeit, but real. He came to her tent, and sat down by the corpse, there to pay the tribute of his tears, that his eye might affect his heart, and that he might pay the greater respect to the memory of her that was gone. Note, It is not only lawful, but it is a duty, to lament the death of our near relations, both in compliance with the providence of God, who thus calls to weeping and mourning, and in honour to those to whom honour is due. Tears are a tribute due to our deceased friends. When a body is sown, it must be watered. But we must not sorrow as those that have no hope; for we have a good hope through grace both concerning them and concerning ourselves.

Cross-references: Gen 23:1 · Gen 18:12 · Gen 23:2

Hebrew interlinear

H4191

מוּתmûwth/mooth/

v — die, kill

Derivation: a primitive root;

to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill

KJV: × at all, × crying, (be) dead (body, man, one), (put to, worthy of) death, destroy(-er), (cause to, be like to, must) die, kill, necro(-mancer), × must needs, slay, × surely, × very suddenly, × in (no) wise.

מוּת

vb — die

מוּת vb. die

Qal

1. die, of natural or other causes

2. die as a penalty = be put to death

Po‛lel. kill, put to death, despatch (intens.)

Hiph.

1. abs., elsewhere c. acc., subj. man

2. subj. God, by inflicting penalty

3. of animals killing men

4. bring to a premature death

Hoph. be killed, put to death

H8283

שָׂרָהSârâh/saw-raw'/

n-pr-f — Sarah

Derivation: the same as 8282;

Sarah, Abraham's wife

KJV: Sarah.

שָׂרָה

n.pr.f — Sarah

שָׂרָה 37 n.pr.f. wife of Abraham (princess)

H7153

קִרְיַת אַרְבַּעQiryath ʼArbaʻ/keer-yath' ar-bah'/

n-pr-loc — Kirjath-Arba, Kirjath-ha-Arba

Derivation: or (with the article interposed) קִרְיַת הָאַרְבַּע; (Nehemiah 11:25), from 7151 and 704 or 702; city of Arba, or city of the four (giants);

Kirjath-Arba or Kirjath-ha-Arba, a place in Palestine

KJV: Kirjath-arba.

קִרְיַת אַרְבַּע

n.pr.loc — Arba

קִרְיַת אַרְבַּע n.pr.loc. older name of Hebron (prob. = fourfold city)

H1931

הוּאhûwʼ/hoo/

p — he, she, it, self, same, this, that, as, are

Derivation: of which the feminine (beyond the Pentateuch) is הִיא; he a primitive word, the third person pronoun singular;

he (she or it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also (intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same; sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally (instead of copula) as or are

KJV: he, as for her, him(-self), it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they, this, those, which (is), who.

הוּא

m — he

הוּא m. הִיא f., pron. of the 3rd ps. sing. he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it

1. an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)

2. It resumes the subj. with emph.

3. Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible

4. It anticipates (as it seems) the subject

5. As an emph. predicate, of God

6. In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)

7. With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.

H2275

חֶבְרוֹןChebrôwn/kheb-rone'/

n-pr-loc n-pr-m — Chebron

Derivation: from 2267; seat of association;

Chebron, a place in Palestine, also the name of two Israelites

KJV: Hebron.

חֶבְרוֹן

n.pr.m — Hebron

חֶבְרוֹן n.pr.m.

1. grandson of Levi

2. name in Caleb's family

חֶבְרוֹן

n.pr.loc — Hebron

חֶבְרוֹן n.pr.loc. Hebron (association, league)

H776

אֶרֶץʼerets/eh'-rets/

n-f — earth, land

Derivation: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm;

the earth (at large, or partitively a land)

KJV: × common, country, earth, field, ground, land, × natins, way, + wilderness, world.

אֶ֫רֶץ

n. f — earth

אֶ֫רֶץ n. f. & (seld.) m. earth, land

1.

a. earth, whole earth (opp. to a part)

b. earth, opp. to heaven, sky

c. earth = inhabitants of earth

2. land =

a. country, territory

b. district, region

c. trial territory

d. piece of ground

e. specif. land of Canaan, or Israel

f. = inhabitants of land

g. used even of Shᵉʼôl

3.

a. ground, surface of ground

b. soil, as productive

4. אֶרֶץ in phrases

a. people of the land

b. in measurements of distance

c. the country of the plain, level or plain country

d. land of the living

e. end(s) of the earth

5. pl. אֲרָצוֹת is almost wholly late; it denotes lands, countries, often in contrast to Canaan, lands of the nations, etc.

H3667

כְּנַעַןKᵉnaʻan/ken-ah'-an/

n-pr-m n-pr-loc n-m — Kenaan

Derivation: from 3665; humiliated;

Kenaan, a son a Ham; also the country inhabited by him

KJV: Canaan, merchant, traffick.

כְּנַ֫עַן

n.[m.] — merchant

כְּנַ֫עַן n.[m.] merchant(s) (because Canaanites, esp. Phoenicians, were traders)

כְּנַ֫עַן

n.pr.m — Canaan

כְּנַ֫עַן 90 n.pr.m. et terr. Canaan

1. as n. pr. m., son of Ham

2.

a. land, W. of Jordan, into wh. Hebrews came, and where they settled, subduing the inhabitants

b. the coast, esp. Phoenicia

H935

בּוֹאbôwʼ/bo/

v — go, come

Derivation: a primitive root;

to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)

KJV: abide, apply, attain, × be, befall, besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, × certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, × doubtless again, eat, employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, have, × indeed, (in-) vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, × (well) stricken (in age), × surely, take (in), way.

בּוֹא

vb — come in

בּוֹא 2569 vb. come in, come, go in, go

Qal

1. come in

2. come (approach, arrive)

3. go, i.e. walk, associate with

4. go from speaker, but with limit of motion given

Hiph.

1. cause to come in, bring in (conduct, lead, obj. persons and animals)

2. cause to come, bring, bring near, etc. (animate obj.)

Hoph.

a. be brought in (of pers. and things)

b. be brought

c. be introduced, put

H85

אַבְרָהָםʼAbrâhâm/ab-raw-hawm'/

n-pr-m — Abraham

Derivation: contracted from 1 and an unused root (probably meaning to be populous); father of a multitude;

Abraham, the later name of Abram

KJV: Abraham.

אַבְרָם

n.pr.m — Abraham

אַבְרָם n.pr.m. (id., Thes al. exalted father) Abram = אַבְרָהָם Abraham

H5594

סָפַדçâphad/saw-fad'/

v — lament, wail

Derivation: a primitive root;

properly, to tear the hair and beat the breasts (as Orientals do in grief); generally to lament; by implication, to wail

KJV: lament, mourn(-er), wail.

סָפַד

vb — wail

[סָפַד] vb. wail, lament

Qal wail, lament

Niph. they shall not be bewailed

H1058

בָּכָהbâkâh/baw-kaw'/

v — weep, bemoan

Derivation: a primitive root;

to weep; generally to bemoan

KJV: × at all, bewail, complain, make lamentation, × more, mourn, × sore, × with tears, weep.

בָּכָה

vb — weep

בָּכָה 114 vb. weep, bewail

Qal

1. weep

2. weep bitterly

3. weep upon

4. bewail

5. in sense of burden, annoy with weeping

6. of penitent weeping

Pi. lament; bewail

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