Genesis 23

¹Sarah lived 127 years ; these were the years of the life of Sarah .

²And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron ) in the land of Canaan , and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites ,

⁴I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place , that I may bury my dead out of my sight .

⁵The Hittites answered Abraham ,

⁶Hear us , my lord ; you are a prince of God among us . Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs . None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead .

⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites , the people of the land .

⁸And 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 the son of Zohar ,

⁹that 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 property for a burying place .

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites , and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites , of all who went in at the gate of his city ,

¹¹No , my lord , hear me : I give you the field , and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead .

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land .

¹³And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land , But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field . Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham ,

¹⁵My lord , listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver , what is that between you and me? Bury your dead .

¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron , and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites , four hundred shekels of silver , according to the weights current among the merchants .

¹⁷So the field of Ephron in Machpelah , which was to the east of Mamre , the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field , throughout its whole area , was made over

¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites , before all who went in at the gate of his city .

¹⁹After this , Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron ) in the land of Canaan .

²⁰The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites .