Genesis 23:4

The stranger and outcast

² 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.

³ And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

⁵ And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

⁶ Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
KJV: I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
WEB: “I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
ASV: I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
DARBY: I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a sepulchre with you, that I may bury my dead from before me.
BLB: “I [am] a sojourner and a stranger among you⁺; give to me a possession of a burial place with you⁺, that I may bury my dead from before me.”

ÅB: Jeg er en fremmed og utlending hos dere; la meg få et gravsted til eiendom hos dere, så jeg kan føre min døde hustru bort og begrave henne!
OTB: "Jeg er en fremmed og en utlending blant dere. Selg meg et stykke jord til en gravplass her, så jeg kan begrave min døde bort fra mitt åsyn."
B1930: Jeg er en fremmed og utlending hos eder; la mig få et gravsted til eiendom hos eder, så jeg kan føre min døde hustru bort og begrave henne!

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Hebrews 11:9
By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
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1 Chronicles 29:15
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
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Genesis 17:8
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
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Psalms 119:19
I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
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Psalms 39:12
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
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Leviticus 25:23
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
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Genesis 49:30
In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
Read in context
Hebrews 11:13–16
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
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