Genesis 23:4
I am a stranger and sojourner among you: give me the right of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead.
Open Genesis 23:4 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Advena sum et peregrinus apud vos : date mihi jus sepulchri vobiscum, ut sepeliam mortuum meum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Πάροικος καὶ παρεπίδημος ἐγώ εἰμι μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν· δότε οὖν μοι κτῆσιν τάφου μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν, καὶ θάψω τὸν νεκρόν μου ἐκεῖ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- גֵּר וְתוֹשָׁ֥ב אָנֹכִ֖י עִמָּכֶ֑ם תְּנ֨וּ לִ֤י אֲחֻזַּת קֶ֨בֶר֙ עִמָּכֶ֔ם וְאֶקְבְּרָ֥ה מֵתִ֖י מִלְּפָנָֽי
The Fathers on this verse
Clement of Alexandria The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Chapter XXIII. The Same Subject Continued
Now the soul of the wise man and Gnostic, as sojourning in the body, conducts itself towards it gravely and respectfully, not with inordinate affections, as about to leave the tabernacle if the time of departure summon. “I am a stranger in the earth, and a sojourner with you,” it is said. And hence Basilides says, that he apprehends that the election are strangers to the world, being supramundane by nature. But this is not the case. For all things are of one God. And no one is a stranger to the world by nature, their essence being one, and God one. But the elect man dwells as a sojourner, knowing all things to be possessed and disposed of; and he makes use of the things which the Pythagoreans make out to be the threefold good things. …
Tertullian On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Scripture Phrases and Passages Clearly Assert “The Resurrection of the Dead.” The Force of This Very Phrase Explained as Indicating the Prominent Place of the Flesh in the General Resurrection
Thus far it has been my object by prefatory remarks to lay a foundation for the defence of all the Scriptures which promise a resurrection of the flesh. Now, inasmuch as this verity is supported by so many just and reasonable considerations, I mean the dignity of the flesh itself, the power and might of God, the analogous cases in which these are displayed, as well as the good reasons for the judgment, and the need thereof, it will of course be only right and proper that the Scriptures should be understood in the sense suggested by such authoritative considerations, and not after the conceits of the heretics, which arise from infidelity solely, because it is deemed incredible that the flesh should be recovered from death and restored to life; not because (such a restoration) is either unattainable by the flesh itself, or impossible for God to effect, or unsuitable to the final judgment. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 11.13-16
[4.] The saints were “strangers and sojourners.” How and in what way? And where does Abraham confess himself “a stranger and a sojourner”? Probably indeed he even himself confessed it: but David both confessed “I am a stranger” and what? “As all my fathers were.” ( Ps. xxxix. 12 .) For they who dwell in tents, they who purchase even burial places for money, evidently were in some sense strangers, as they had not even where to bury their dead.