23:6 “Listen, sir,12 you are a mighty prince13 among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you14 from burying your dead.”
tnHeb “prince of God.” The divine name may be used here as a means of expressing the superlative, “mighty prince.” The word for “prince” probably means “tribal chief” here. See M. H. Gottstein, “Nasi’ ‘elohim (Gen 23:6),” VT 3 (1953) 298–99; and D. W. Thomas, “Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in Hebrew,” VT 3 (1953) 215–16.
14
tn The phrase “to prevent you” has been added in the translation for stylistic reasons.