Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




The Hittites sold the field and its cave to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb.

It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.

Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: I received your message. I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees. My men will bring the logs from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. My men will untie them. There your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men. So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted. read more.
Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred thousand bushels of wheat and one hundred and ten thousand gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men.



The Hittites sold the field and its cave to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb.

It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.

Then Hiram sent Solomon the following message: I received your message. I am ready to do what you ask. I will provide the cedars and the pine trees. My men will bring the logs from Lebanon to the sea and will tie them together in rafts to float them down the coast to the place you choose. My men will untie them. There your men will take charge of them. On your part, I would like you to supply the food for my men. So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted. read more.
Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred thousand bushels of wheat and one hundred and ten thousand gallons of pure olive oil every year to feed his men.


The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.


It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon. read more.
In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people in his hometown. Today you are witnesses to this. The leaders and the others said: Yes, we are witnesses. May Jehovah make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.


When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son the wife of the deceased shall not marry outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall marry her and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. The firstborn son she bears will assume the name of the dead brother. That way his name will not be blotted out from Israel. If the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say: My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me. read more.
The elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists and says: I do not desire to take her, his brother's wife shall must to him in the sight of the elders. She will pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. Then she will declare: It is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. His name in Israel will be: 'The house of him whose sandal is removed.'

Er was an evil man. It displeased Jehovah. So Jehovah killed him. Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan: Go sleep with your brother's widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husband's brother. That way your brother may have descendants. Onan knew that the children would not belong to him. So when he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, assuring that there would be no children for his brother. read more.
What he did displeased Jehovah. So Jehovah killed him also. Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar: Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up. He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home.

and so Jehovah says that the daughters of Zelophehad are free to marry anyone they wish but only within their own tribe. The property of every Israelite will remain attached to his tribe. Every woman who inherits property in an Israelite tribe must marry a man belonging to that tribe. In this way all Israelites will inherit the property of their ancestors, read more.
and the property will not pass from one tribe to another. Each tribe will continue to possess its own property.

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her: My daughter, Should I try to find a secure home for you where you will be well treated? Boaz is of our kindred, with whose servant girls you have been. He winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself and put on your best clothes. Go down to the floor. Make yourself known to the man after he is done eating and drinking. read more.
When he lies down, notice the place where he lies down. Go in, uncover his feet and lay down. He will tell you what you should do. Ruth said: All that you say to me I will do. She went down to the floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law told her. After Boaz ate and drank, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of barley. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. Something startled him about midnight. He saw the woman at his feet.

It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon. read more.
In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people in his hometown. Today you are witnesses to this. The leaders and the others said: Yes, we are witnesses. May Jehovah make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. May your family be like the family of Perez, the son whom Tamar gave to Judah, from the offspring that Jehovah may give you by this young woman. Boaz took Ruth to be his wife. He slept with her and Jehovah enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: A blessing on Jehovah. He has not let you be without a near relative. May his name be great in Israel. He will be a giver of new life to you. He will be your comforter when you are old, because your daughter-in-law, who in her love for you is better than seven sons, has given birth to him. Naomi took the child in her arms and took care of it. Her neighbor women gave it a name. They said: Naomi has a child. They gave him the name of Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.


Abraham left the side of his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said: I am a stranger with no permanent home. Let me have some of your property for a tomb that I can bury my dead wife. The Hittites answered Abraham: read more.
Listen to us, my lord. You are a mighty leader among us. Bury your dead in one of our best tombs. Not one of us will withhold from you his tomb for burying your dead. Abraham got up and bowed to the people of that region, the Hittites. He said: If you are willing to let me bury my wife here, please ask Ephron son of Zohar to sell me Machpelah Cave. It is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price here in your presence. Then I can own it as a burial ground. Ephron was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate. He answered in the hearing of everyone there: Hear me my lord, I give you the field, including the cave. It is yours. With my own people as witnesses, I freely give it to you as a burial place for your dead. Once again, Abraham bowed down. He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land. He said: If you will only please listen to me. I will give the price of the field. Accept it from me that I may bury my dead there. Ephron answered Abraham: My lord, listen to me. It is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead. Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard. Ephron's field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, was sold to Abraham. His property included the field with the cave in it as well as all the trees inside the boundaries of the field. The Hittites together with all who had entered the city gate were the official witnesses for the agreement. Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (Hebron), in the land of Canaan. The Hittites sold the field and its cave to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb.

The leaders and the others said: Yes, we are witnesses. May Jehovah make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. read more.
The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.

I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son. I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. read more.
I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying: Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel says: Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may be preserved a long time.


Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. read more.
The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon.


Boaz went to the public place in the town and sat down. When the kinsman-redeemer came along, the one he had mentioned, Boaz said: Come here, and sit down. He came and was seated. Then he got ten of the responsible men of the town, and said: Be seated here. And they took their seats. Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. read more.
I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon. In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people in his hometown. Today you are witnesses to this. The leaders and the others said: Yes, we are witnesses. May Jehovah make your wife become like Rachel and Leah, who bore many children to Jacob. May you become rich in the clan of Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

Jehovah said to me: Take a large writing tablet, and write on it with a pen: Maher Shalal Hash Baz (The Looting Will Come Quickly; the Prey Will Be Easy). I will have these dependable witnesses testify: the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. I slept with the prophetess. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Jehovah told me: Name him Maher Shalal Hash Baz.


If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back. If that relative has the money. Later, if you can afford to buy it, you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again. read more.
If he cannot earn enough to buy it back, what he sold stays in the hands of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it will be released, and he will own it again. If anyone sells a home in a walled city, for one year after selling it he has the right to buy it back. He may buy it back only within that time. If he does not buy it back during that year, the house in the city belongs to the buyer for generations to come. It will not be released in the jubilee. Houses in villages without walls are regarded as belonging to the fields of the land. They can be bought back. They will be released in the jubilee. The Levites always have the right to buy back their property in the cities they own. If any Levite buys back a house, in the jubilee the purchased house in the city will be released. This is because the houses in the Levite cities are their property among the Israelites. But a field that belongs to their cities must not be sold, because it is their property from generation to generation.

Give the following regulations for the people of Israel: 'When any of you have been given to Jehovah in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money, This is according to the official standard: adult male, twenty to sixty years old: fifty pieces of silver, adult female: thirty pieces of silver, young male, five to twenty years old: twenty pieces of silver, young female: ten pieces of silver, infant male under five: five pieces of silver, infant female: three pieces of silver, male above sixty years of age: fifteen pieces of silver, female above sixty: ten pieces of silver. If it is a woman, give twelve ounces. read more.
For a boy from five to twenty years old, give eight ounces and for a girl give four ounces. For a boy from one month to five years old, give two ounces of silver and for a girl give about one ounce. For a man sixty years or over, give six ounces and for a woman give four ounces. The person who is too poor to pay the required amount must stand in front of the priest. The priest will determine the amount based on what the person can afford. If the vow is to give the kind of animal that people offer to Jehovah, it will be considered holy. Do not exchange or substitute animals, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If you do exchange one animal for another, then both animals will be holy. If it is an unclean animal that cannot be brought to Jehovah as an offering, bring it in front of the priest. The priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more. If you give your house to Jehovah as something holy, the priest will determine what its value is. The value will be whatever the priest decides. If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more. If a person gives part of a field to Jehovah as something holy, its value will be based on the seed planted on it. Ground planted with two quarts of barley will be worth twenty ounces of silver. If you give your field in the jubilee year, it will have its full value. Should you give the field after the jubilee year, the priest will estimate its value based on the number of years left until the next jubilee year. If you want to buy it back, you must pay its full value plus one-fifth more. If you do not buy it back and it is sold to someone else, it may not be redeemed. When the field is released in the jubilee year, it will be holy like a field claimed by Jehovah. It will become the property of the priest. You may give a field you bought, not one that was a part of your family property, to Jehovah as something holy. The priest must figure out the field's value until the jubilee year. You will pay its value on that day as something holy, belonging to Jehovah. In the jubilee year the field will go back to the person from whom it was bought, to whom it belongs as family property. All values will be set using the standard weight of the holy place. A firstborn animal already belongs to Jehovah because it was born first. Therefore, it cannot be set apart as holy. Whether it is a bull or a sheep, it belongs to Jehovah. If it is an unclean animal it must be bought back. The payment will be its full value plus one-fifth more. If it is not bought back, it must be sold at the value given it. However, everything dedicated to Jehovah for destruction, a person, an animal, or a field that belongs to you, must not be sold or bought back. Everything dedicated in that way is very holy. It belongs to Jehovah. People dedicated this way may not be bought back. They must be put to death. One-tenth of what comes from the land, whether grain or fruit, is holy and belongs to Jehovah. If you buy back any part of it, you must add one-fifth more to it. Every tenth head of cattle or sheep that you counted is holy and belongs to Jehovah. You must not look to see if it is good or bad or exchange it. If you do exchange it, both the first animal and its substitute will be holy. They may not be bought back.'

Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. read more.
The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon. In addition, Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, becomes my wife. This will keep the property in the dead man's family, and his family line will continue among his people in his hometown. Today you are witnesses to this.


It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.

his brother's wife shall must to him in the sight of the elders. She will pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. Then she will declare: It is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.


It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz.


Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water that the servants of Abimelech had seized. Abimelech said: I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today. Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a covenant. read more.
Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. Abimelech asked Abraham: What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves? He said: You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.

Yet you, Lord Jehovah, told me to buy a field with money and get witnesses to confirm it, although the city was handed over to the Babylonians.

Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev. I will restore their prosperity, declares Jehovah.

I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son. I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. read more.
I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

Hear me my lord, I give you the field, including the cave. It is yours. With my own people as witnesses, I freely give it to you as a burial place for your dead.

Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, commercial standard. Ephron's field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, was sold to Abraham. His property included the field with the cave in it as well as all the trees inside the boundaries of the field. The Hittites together with all who had entered the city gate were the official witnesses for the agreement.

Boaz went to the public place in the town and sat down. When the kinsman-redeemer came along, the one he had mentioned, Boaz said: Come here, and sit down. He came and was seated. Then he got ten of the responsible men of the town, and said: Be seated here. And they took their seats. Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. read more.
I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon.


Then Boaz said to the close relative: Naomi has come back from the country of Moab. She is offering for a price that bit of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. I am giving you a chance to take it with the approval of those seated here, the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relative to do, then do it. If you will not do it, say so to me now. There is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you, myself. And he said: I will do it. Then Boaz said: On the day when you take this field, you will have to take with it Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, so that you may keep the name of the dead living in his heritage. read more.
The near relative said: I am not able to redeem it for myself, for fear of damaging the heritage I have. You may do it in my place, for I am not able to do it myself. It was the custom for the seller to take off his sandal and give to the buyer to settle a sale or exchange of property. By doing this, Israelites showed that the matter was settled. So when the man said to Boaz: You buy it, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the others there: You are all witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and to his sons Chilion and Mahlon.