audience Lit. "ears," as in Genesis 23:13; Genesis 23:16. The presence of witnesses is evidently requisite for the validity of the transaction: cf. Ruth 4:9-11.

all that went in at the gate of his city Cf. Genesis 23:18. A technical phrase to denote full citizens. The gate was the place of popular assembly for the elders of a city; cf. Genesis 19:1.

A similar phrase occurs in Genesis 34:24, "all that went out at the gate." The classical illustration of business transactions conducted at "the gate" of a city is to be found in the Book of Ruth, chap. Genesis 4:1 ff.

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