Meaning of the Verses [closed]

speech

It should be noted that this is one particular translation of ancient dialogue, containing two idiomatic expressions. The quoted English translation might not do the best job of finding a modern English equivalent, but one should not expect such passages to always be transparent to modern readers without additional research.

To understand the context, it helps to know that there's a kind of stilted haggling going on. Abraham asks to buy the tomb "for the full price." Ephron—"sitting among his people" and "in the hearing of all," so, conscious of his public audience—"insisted" that Abraham accept the tomb as a gift. Abraham insisted again that he pay the full market value. Finally, in v. 15 quoted above, Ephron again gives the appearance of offering the tomb for free, but just happens to mention its fair price, upon which Abraham promptly weighs out exactly that amount. This kind of elaborate contest of courtesies, offering things that aren't really meant to be accepted so that the other party can have the benefit of refusing, was common in the ancient world and still seen in some cultures.

There are in fact modern English equivalents for these idioms. Ephon says "The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between me and you?" A modern equivalent might be "What's 400 shekels between friends?"

The phrase rather awkwardly translated here as "which passes with the merchant" is, in Hebrew, simply two words, sahar abar, which appear to translate more directly as "commercial standard"—that is, "[400 shekels] according to the current weights and measures, as standardized by the merchants."