Genesis 33:19 · Bible study
Genesis 33:19 Commentary: Jacob's Land Purchase at Shechem
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Jacob buys a field in Shechem for 100 kesitah. The purchase shows faith in God's promise and becomes the burial site for Joseph's bones.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Jacob’s legal purchase of a field in Shechem as an act of faith and a foothold for future inheritance.
- Key words: qanah (bought, completed transaction), kesitah (unit of currency, possibly lamb-stamped coin or silver weight).
- Main debate: Whether kesitah refers to literal lambs, coins with a lamb image, or a weighed amount of silver.
- Theological theme: Faithful sojourning, living in the tension between God’s already-given promise and its not-yet fullness.
- Best use: Teaching patience, trust, and the significance of small acts of obedience that echo through redemptive history.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
And the plot of ground where he pitched his tent, he purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.
WEB World English Bible 2000
He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money.
KJV King James Version 1769
And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
and he buyeth the portion of the field where he hath stretched out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitah;
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And he bought the portion of the field where he had spread his tent, of the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred kesitahs.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And he bought that part of the field, in which he pitched his tents, of the children of Hemor, the father of Sichem, for a hundred lambs.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y compró una parte del campo, donde tendió su tienda, de mano de los hijos de Hamor, padre de Sichêm, por cien piezas de moneda.
E comprou uma parte do campo, onde estendeu sua tenda, da mão dos filhos de Hamor, pai de Siquém, por cem peças de moeda.
Il acheta la portion du champ où il avait dressé sa tente, des fils d’ Hamor, père de Sichem, pour cent kesita.
und kaufte ein Stück Acker von den Kindern Hemors, des Vaters Sichems, um hundert Groschen; daselbst richtete er seine Hütte auf.
En hij kocht een deel des velds, waarop hij zijn tent gespannen had, van de hand der zonen van Hemor, den vader van Sichem, voor honderd stukken gelds.
E comprò dai figliuoli di Hemor, padre di Sichem, per cento pezzi di danaro, la parte del campo dove avea piantato le sue tende.
I kupił część pola, na którem rozbił namiot swój, od synów Hemora, ojca Sychemowego, za sto jagniąt;
И купил часть поля, на котором раскинул шатер свой, у сынов Еммора, отца Сихемова, за сто монет.
就用一百 塊銀子 向 示劍 的父親、哈抹 的子孫 買了 支 帳棚 的 那塊 地，
And for a hundred bits of money he got from the children of Hamor, the builder of Shechem, the field in which he had put up his tents.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Genesis 33:19
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that Jacob’s purchase of this field at Shechem is a deliberate act of faith. Though God had promised all Canaan to Abraham’s descendants, Jacob does not simply claim the land; he buys it, living as a sojourner among its current inhabitants. Gill notes that Jacob “bought a parcel of a field … though he was heir of the whole country, because, as yet, the time was not come for him or his to take possession of it.” The Cambridge Bible adds that “the purchase of this plot of ground was historically important. It was the burial-place of the bones of Joseph” (Joshua 24:32). Keil and Delitzsch see the act as showing that “Jacob, in reliance upon the promise of God, regarded Canaan as his own home and the home of his seed.”
On the term kesitah, the sources offer multiple views. The LXX, Vulgate, and Targum Onkelos translate “lambs,” suggesting either actual sheep or a coin stamped with a lamb’s image. Clarke notes that ancient coins often bore animal images: the Athenian “ox” coin or the English “angel.” JFB calls it “a coin with the figure of a lamb on it.” Keil argues for a weighed quantity of silver of considerable but uncertain value. All agree the hundred units represent a fair price for the land.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Low
What is clear: The purchase is a concrete act of faith, and the land becomes a significant location in Israel’s history, regardless of the exact nature of the kesitah.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose of the purchase | All commentators agree Jacob bought the field as an act of faith, showing he intended to settle in Canaan despite the promise not yet being fulfilled. | Some emphasize it as an immediate dwelling place; others highlight its prophetic role as Joseph’s burial site (Joshua 24:32). Both are affirmed in the text. |
| Meaning of kesitah | It is some form of currency used in the transaction. | The LXX, Vulgate, and Targum Onkelos read 'lambs'; many scholars (Clarke, JFB) suggest a coin stamped with a lamb; Keil and Gill argue for a weighed quantity of silver. Exact value is unknown. |
| Significance in redemptive history | This purchase is linked to Joseph’s burial in Joshua 24:32 and to Jesus’ visit in John 4:5, making it a landmark location. | Views differ on whether the primary significance is legal (establishing a foothold) or typological (pointing to Christ’s ministry in Samaria). Both are compatible. |
| Parallel to Abraham’s purchase | Both patriarchs bought land in Canaan rather than taking it by force. | Abraham bought a burial cave (Genesis 23); Jacob buys a field for settlement. Some see the earlier purchase as more overtly faith-filled, but the differences are minor. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Genesis 33:19 sits within Jacob’s return to Canaan after twenty years with Laban in Paddan Aram. He has just reconciled with Esau at Peniel, where God renamed him Israel. Jacob travels to Succoth (east of the Jordan), builds a house and shelters, then crosses the Jordan and arrives “in peace” (shalom) at the city of Shechem (33:18). The phrase “in peace” echoes his Bethel vow: “if I return in peace to my father’s house” (28:21). That vow is now fulfilled.
Shechem was a Canaanite city in the hill country, ruled by Hamor the Hivite and his son Shechem (34:2). By buying the plot where his tent stood, literally “the portion of the field” (chelkat hasadeh), Jacob made a legal purchase from “the sons of Hamor,” the local clan. The verb qanah (he bought) is a Qal perfect, indicating a completed transaction. In the ancient Near East, buying land from local inhabitants gave a stranger the right to settle without claiming sovereignty. Jacob’s purchase resembles Abraham’s earlier acquisition of the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23). Both patriarchs paid full price for a foothold in the land God had promised.
The payment, one hundred kesitah, is a term found only here, in Joshua 24:32, and Job 42:11. The Hebrew word may be related to kesef (silver) or to kisah (a lamb). Ancient versions take it as lambs; later interpreters see a coin stamped with a lamb. Clarke points out that the Greek historian Aeschylus mentions an “ox” coin, and the English “angel” coin bore an angel’s image, parallels that make a lamb-stamped coin plausible. Whatever the exact medium, the transaction gave Jacob a legal stake in the land, however small.
This single purchase becomes a landmark. Joshua 24:32 records that Joseph’s bones were buried in this same parcel. And John 4:5 locates Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at “the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.” The purchase both roots Jacob’s family in Canaan and foreshadows the eventual inheritance of the whole land.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note a variant in the LXX for this verse: the LXX omits “sons of” in “the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father,” reading simply “Hamor the father of Shechem.” This may stem from the confusion between “Shechem the son of Hamor” (Genesis 34:2) and the city name Shechem. The LXX also renders kesitah as “lambs” (ἑκατὸν ἀμνῶν), while the Hebrew kesitah appears only here, in Joshua 24:32, and Job 42:11. No other significant textual variants are mentioned in the consulted sources.
Reception History
This verse has been received primarily through its connections to two key New Testament passages. Joshua 24:32 explicitly identifies the plot as the burial site of Joseph’s bones, making Jacob’s purchase a tangible link between the patriarchs and the conquest of Canaan. In John 4:5, Jesus visits “Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph,” and the Samaritan woman recalls Jacob at the well. Early Christian writers (e.g., Justin Martyr, Origen) saw this as a geographical and typological connection to Christ’s offer of living water. Medieval Jewish commentators like Rashi interpreted the kesitah as a known weight of silver. Reformation-era commentators (Calvin, Luther) used the purchase to teach that the patriarchs did not claim the land by force but waited on God’s timing. Across traditions, Genesis 33:19 is read as an example of faithful patience and the importance of small, concrete steps in living out God’s promises.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- A purchased place in the promised land. Jacob buys what God had already pledged. This teaches that faith often requires concrete action, spiritual promises and practical steps work together.
- A peaceful sojourn among strangers. Jacob arrives “in peace” and buys land from the Hamorites. He does not seize it. Believers are called to live at peace with those around them while trusting God’s greater purposes.
- A prophetic link to future inheritance. The field becomes Joseph’s burial plot (Joshua 24:32) and a site Jesus visits (John 4:5). A small purchase carries redemptive significance that unfolds over centuries.
Five-point outline
- The context: Jacob returns in peace after years of exile and conflict.
- The purchase: Jacob buys a field as an act of faith, not conquest.
- The currency: the kesitah reminds us that God’s people live in real economies and use honest transactions.
- The place: Shechem is where Abraham first built an altar (12:6-7); Jacob now builds an altar too (33:20).
- The legacy: this land becomes a resting place for Joseph’s bones and a site for Jesus’ ministry.
Illustration hooks
- Buying a house before the keys. Jacob paid for land he couldn’t fully possess in his lifetime, like a down payment on a promise that would be realized by later generations.
- Paying for what is free. A child promises you their candy bar after school, but you still buy one at lunch. Jacob’s purchase shows that living in the promise doesn’t mean ignoring present responsibilities.
- The familiar landmark. That street corner where your grandfather bought his first shop, it becomes part of family lore. Jacob’s field becomes exactly that for Israel.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If God promised all Canaan to Abraham’s family, why didn’t Jacob just claim it without paying?
- Does the kesitah being lambs or money change our understanding of the story?
- How does this small purchase connect to Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman?
Leading a Discussion
Jacob has returned to Canaan after twenty years. He is at peace with Esau and now, at Shechem, he buys a piece of land. This purchase seems small, but it has deep roots in faith and even deeper consequences in Israel’s story. As you read through the passage together, ask yourselves what Jacob’s action reveals about trust, patience, and living as strangers in a world ruled by others.
Discussion questions
- What does the term “in peace” (v. 18) tell you about Jacob’s spiritual state at this moment?
- Why does Jacob buy a field when God had already promised the entire land to his descendants?
- What different options have scholars proposed for the meaning of kesitah? Which do you find most persuasive and why?
- How does this purchase compare with Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23)? What do both say about the patriarchs’ relationship to the land?
- Joshua 24:32 links this field to Joseph’s bones. How does that connection change the significance of Jacob’s purchase?
- In what areas of your life are you called to act on God’s promises without yet seeing their full fulfillment?
- How does Jacob’s example of peaceful acquisition challenge the way believers interact with the larger society today?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Genesis 23:17 | So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded |
| Genesis 23:20 | The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham by the children of Heth as a possession for a burial place. |
| Genesis 34:2 | Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. |
| Genesis 34:31 | They said, “Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?” |
| 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 from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. |
| Genesis 49:32 | the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.” |
| Joshua 24:32 | They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. |
| John 4:5 | So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke argues the word for "money" here actually means "lamb," suggesting Jacob may have paid with lambs or with coins stamped with a lamb's image. He compares this to other ancient coins named after their stamped images, like the Greek "ox" coin, and notes that words for wealth and money originally derived from livestock terms.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator clarifies that the "children of Hamor" refers to the tribe founded by Hamor, and highlights the uncertain value of the Hebrew coin "kesitah" mentioned here. He notes this small land purchase, like the buying of Machpelah, was historically significant as Joseph's burial site but did not claim ownership of the land, underscoring that the patriarchs remained strangers and sojourners.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Bible treats this purchase as a quiet but vital act of faith by Jacob. By buying land in Canaan before his family fully settled there, he signaled that God’s promise to give this ground to his descendants was already taking root. This transaction served as a tangible pledge of future inheritance rather than merely a commercial deal with the local inhabitants.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill argues that Jacob paid actual coinage for the field, not a hundred lambs as some ancient translations suggest. He notes that money was already in use before Jacob's time and points to Stephen's description of it as a sum of money. The pieces may even have been stamped with a lamb's image.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the phrase "hundred pieces of money" translates a word meaning "lambs," likely referring to a coin stamped with a lamb's image. This detail explains the literal meaning behind the monetary figure.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch insist the word shalem does not mean "to Shalem" as a place name but is an adjective meaning "safe" or "peaceful," directly fulfilling Jacob's Bethel vow. They see the purchase of land and the naming of the altar El-Elohe-Israel as Jacob's declaration that God proved Himself mighty during his long absence, a memorial for his descendants.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange draws attention to the meaning of Hamor's name: "ass" or "peaceful bearer of public burdens." This etymological note suggests that the prince of Shechem, despite his noble status, bears a name that hints at servitude or lowliness, adding a layer of character to the encounter.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that Jacob's journey from Succoth's booths to Shechem's field purchase teaches two truths: God's people remember their humble origins, and though Canaan was promised, Jacob paid for land to avoid conflict. Dominion is not founded in grace; those who inherit heaven freely must not expect earth on the same terms.