Genesis 23
23
1Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven 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, 4#Heb 11.9,13. “I am a stranger and a sojourner 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, 6“Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our sepulchres; none of us will withhold from you his sepulchre, or 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 Mach-pelah, 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.” 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, 11“No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence 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 will give the price of the field; accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14Ephron answered Abraham, 15“My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16#Acts 7.16. Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver which 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 Mach-pelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave which 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 Mach-pelah 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 a possession for a burying place by the Hittites.
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Genesis 23: RSV
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Genesis 23
23
Sarah died and Abraham bought some land to bury her body
1Sarah lived a long time. She lived until she was 127 years old. 2Then she died in the town called Hebron, in the country called Canaan. Another name for that town is Kiriath Arba. Abraham was very sad, and he sat next to Sarah’s body and cried.
3After that, Abraham got up and left the place where Sarah’s body was, and he went to the town gate to talk to the people that owned that country. They were from the Heth tribe. 4Abraham said to them, “This is your land, and I am just camping here. I need to bury my wife’s body. Can I buy some of your land to use for a grave?”#Hebrews 11:9, 13; Acts 7:16
5The Heth people said to Abraham, 6“Sir, we know that you are a great leader for your people, and we respect you a lot. We want you to use one of our best graves to bury your wife. Yes, you can pick any grave you want, and we will let you use it to bury your wife.”
7Then Abraham got down on his knees in front of the Heth people, to show them respect. 8-9He said to them, “Thank you for saying that you will help me bury my wife. There is a cave in your country that I want to use for a grave. You know the man called Efron, the son of Zohar. He’s one of you Heth people. He has some land in the place called Makpelah, and there’s a cave in the rock at one end of that land. I want to put my wife’s body in that cave. Can you ask Efron if I can buy that cave? I want to pay him the full price for it. And you can all watch me buy that cave from him. Then it will belong to me, and I can put my wife’s body there.”
10Efron was sitting there with the other Heth people at the town gate. He talked to Abraham so that everyone could hear him. 11He said, “Sir, I will give you that cave, and I will give you the land around it too. I’m telling you straight in front of all my people, I will give you that cave and that land, so that you can bury your wife.”
12Then Abraham got down on his knees again in front of the Heth people, to show them respect. 13He talked to Efron so that everyone could hear him. He said, “Thank you. All right, I will buy that cave and that land from you. Tell me the right price for it, and I will pay you. Then that land will belong to me, and I can bury my wife there. Do you agree?”
14Then Efron said to Abraham, 15“Sir, the right price for that land is just 4 kilograms of silver money, but let’s not talk about money all day. The most important thing is that you can bury your wife.” 16And all the Heth people heard Efron say that price.
So Abraham agreed, and he got out his silver money. He weighed that money properly, and he gave 4 kilograms of it to Efron.
17-18Then that land, and the cave, and all the trees on that land, they belonged to Abraham. That land was in the place called Makpelah, to the east of the place called Mamreh. All the Heth people that were at the town gate, they saw Abraham buy Efron’s land, so they knew that it belonged to Abraham.
19After that, Abraham put Sarah’s body in the cave in that land. It was in the place called Makpelah, to the east of the place called Mamreh, in the country called Canaan. Another name for Mamreh is Hebron.
20That is how Abraham bought some land and a cave from the Heth people, to use for a grave.
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