My lord, listen to me shifts the negotiation to the final stage in which the price is now to be named. Here listen to me should be expressed by a similar wording to that used in verses 6, 11, 13. In English we may say, for example, “look at it this way,” “think about it like this.”

A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver: in this manner Ephron states his price for the land, but with the rhetorical question that follows, he makes the price appear as insignificant. Good News Translation expresses the price with “only,” which fits the context well, “Land worth only….” In some languages the structure of the Hebrew sentence, which Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation retain as a single sentence, is too complicated; so this comment about the value of the land is made into a separate sentence: “The price of the land is four hundred silver pieces” or “That land is worth four hundred bits of money.”

It is impossible to say for sure whether four hundred shekels of silver was a high or low price, because we do not know the value of land at that time and place, nor do we know the size of the field. There is therefore little point in comparing this price with the price paid for fields in later biblical times. However, given Abraham’s position as a foreigner, and his urgent need for a burial place for his dead wife, we are probably justified in thinking that the price asked for the land was likely to have been very high, if not “an exorbitant price” (Speiser).

In translation little is gained in attempting to equate the value of a silver shekel in Abraham’s time with modern currency. In order to avoid confusion resulting from the ever-changing value of a unit of currency, it is best to translate “four hundred silver coins,” or better, “… pieces of silver.”

What is that between you and me?: that refers to the amount of money just named by Ephron. The point of the question is to minimize the amount of money. By asking this question Ephron compares the worth and importance of men like Abraham and himself to the mere four hundred silver shekels. Looked at in this way the price is of little importance; for Abraham to haggle over the price would be to admit that he was of less worth than Ephron suggested. Accordingly Abraham is prepared to pay the full price without further discussion.

In translation it may be necessary to restructure Ephron’s response so that the point of comparison is easily grasped. For example, “To men of our standing, is a field priced at a mere four hundred any great thing? Of course not”; “To men like us, what is a piece of land valued at four hundred pieces of silver? Why it is nothing at all!” “The land is only worth four hundred silver pieces. After all, what is that to men of our worth?” “The price of the land is four hundred…, but to you and me that’s nothing!”

Ephron closes his offer by repeating the refrain Bury your dead.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .