Identify specific usage of "now" as adverb or conjunction

I am trying to figure out the meaning of "now" in some contexts. I've seen its full use in the Cambridge dictionary and in MacMillan Dictionary; however, it isn't clear to me in some contexts. e.g.

"Let him sell it to me in your presence at its full price for a burial place." Now Ephron was sitting with the Hittites. (Genesis 23:9-10)

I think that in this case 'now' is functioning in a way that shows Ephron was in that precise time when Abraham (he was the one who asked the Hittites to let Ephron sell the burial place)was talking to the Hittites.

One of the definitions of "now" is used in stories to mean at a particular time in the story, but I also noticed that "now" can have another meaning which is an adverb that is used for "used in stories or reports of past events to describe a new situation or event"

So my specific questions are: in that text why is 'now' used, and what part of the speech is it? Is it conjunction? or an adverb?

Solution 1:

It is true that some translations use and, while others use now, and it is almost not important which one is picked, as they fulfil the same role: they are discourse markers¹ which give the text a certain flowing:

The English discourse marker now has been characterized as a marker of “temporal relations between utterances in a discourse” (Schiffrin, 1987) and as a “coherence marker” (Aijmer, 1988). (Science direct)

The verse in older languages, but also the context itself, point to the fact that now does not refer to time here.² I do not speak Hebrew, but you were already told in the comments that the Hebrew version says and. In Greek, the Septuagint uses δέ (de), a very common coordinating conjunction used to express opposition, or in explanatory clauses or to show transition (see full definition). I am only pointing to this so as to understand why the translators use now or and to render this word: because they have the same functions.

^{1Wikipedia explains: A discourse marker is a word or a phrase that plays a role in managing the flow and structure of discourse. Since their main function is at the level of discourse (sequences of utterances) rather than at the level of utterances or sentences, discourse markers are relatively syntax-independent and usually do not change the truth conditional meaning of the sentence.}

^{2 Especially that, to refer to a moment in the past, not now, but then is preferred.}

Of course, we should tackle this issue regardless of other languages. The context offers enough support to make a case for the use of now as a conjunction for the purpose of providing an explanation, or at least of transition. If we read before and after, we see that this is a dialogue between Abraham and Ephron, and the discourse alternates between their words and the voice of the narrator:

Genesis 23:7-12 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. He said to them,

"If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying place."

Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,

"No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead."

Abraham asks for a favour from the owner of a field to bury his dead. Now in "Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites" does two things:

1. it marks the transition from Abraham's voice to the voice of the narrator

and

2. it introduces Ephron, as if in an aside, and this explains how he can respond to Abraham's request right away.

About now Cambridge says:

Now as a discourse marker: We use now to signal something new, particularly when giving instructions or introducing a new idea or topic.

CONCLUSION: The arguments which would make the case for now as an adverb of time are very slim, at least compared to the ones that support the hypothesis that now is rather a conjunction introducing something new.