These two verses are a summary of the purchase episode and contain the details of the verbal contract. They first describe the property purchased, and then state the transfer and the legal witness to the transaction. For clarity verses 17-18 must often be made into shorter sentences.

So the field: So marks these verses as a conclusion or summary. Note Good News Translation “That is how the property….” In some languages the conclusion may be stated, for example, “Well, this is the way Abraham bought….”

Was made over: this translates the opening word in the Hebrew text, which in the context of a purchase has the sense of establishing or confirming the legal transfer of the property; “So it stood, was established, was firm, that….” So Revised English Bible has “became the legal possession of,” and New International Version the rather technical “was deeded to.” In Good News Translation this legal sense is expressed by “It was recognized as the property of.” Examples of how this is handled in other translations are “That is how they legally passed over…,” “They did this in the proper way, and the Hittites who came later knew that…,” and “So the Hittites who were there at that meeting took that [payment] as proof that Ephron had handed over that land….”

Because the vocabulary in verses 17-18 has all been discussed in the other verses, we present here only a model translation for these two verses:

• So this is what Abraham bought from Ephron: He bought the field in the district of Machpelah east of Mamre. The field included the cave on the land and all of the trees on the property. This property was legally made over to Abraham in the presence of all the men meeting in the city square where the Hittites were witnesses.

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 .