Genesis 23
1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of Sarah’s life.
2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and weep for her.
3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:
4 “I am a foreigner and a resident among you. Give me a burial property among you, so I can bury my dead wife out of my sight.”
5 The Hittites answered Abraham:
6 “Hear us, my lord: you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead wife in the finest of our tombs; none of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead wife.”
7 Abraham rose and bowed before the people of the land, the Hittites.
8 He spoke to them: “If it is your wish that I bury my dead wife out of my sight, listen to me and speak on my behalf to Ephron son of Zohar.
9 Let him give me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and lies at the edge of his field. Let him give it to me for its full price, among you, as a burial property.”
10 Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who entered through the gate of his city:
11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I also give you the cave in it. In the presence of the people of my community I give it to you; bury your dead wife.”
12 Abraham bowed before the people of the land.
13 He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land: “Please hear me: I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and I will bury my dead wife there.”
14 Ephron answered Abraham:
15 “My lord, hear me: land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead wife.”
16 Abraham agreed with Ephron and weighed out for him the silver he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the merchants’ standard.
17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah, facing Mamre, was secured: the field, the cave in it, and all the trees in the field, within its entire boundary all around.
18 It became Abraham’s purchased property in the presence of the Hittites, of all who entered through the gate of his city.
19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave in it passed from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial property.
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