Genesis 23
23
Sarah Dies and Abraham Buys a Burial Ground
1Sarah lived to be 127 years old. 2She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned her death.
3He left the place where his wife's body was lying, went to the Hittites, and said, 4#Heb 11.9, 13; Acts 7.16“I am a foreigner living here among you; sell me some land, so that I can bury my wife.”
5They answered, 6“Listen to us, sir. We look upon you as a mighty leader; bury your wife in the best grave that we have. Any of us would be glad to give you a grave, so that you can bury her.”
7Then Abraham bowed before them 8and said, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife here, please ask Ephron son of Zohar 9to sell me Machpelah Cave, which is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price, here in your presence, so that I can own it as a burial ground.”
10Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there, 11“Listen, sir; I will give you the whole field and the cave that is in it. Here in the presence of my own people, I will give it to you, so that you can bury your wife.”
12But Abraham bowed before the Hittites 13and said to Ephron, so that everyone could hear, “May I ask you, please, to listen. I will buy the whole field. Accept my payment, and I will bury my wife there.”
14Ephron answered, 15“Sir, land worth only 400 pieces of silver — what is that between us? Bury your wife in it.” 16Abraham agreed and weighed out the amount that Ephron had mentioned in the hearing of the people — 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard weights used by the merchants.
17That is how the property which had belonged to Ephron at Machpelah, east of Mamre, became Abraham's. It included the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees in the field up to the edge of the property. 18It was recognized as Abraham's property by all the Hittites who were there at the meeting.
19Then Abraham buried his wife Sarah in that cave in the land of Canaan. 20So the field which had belonged to the Hittites, and the cave in it, became the property of Abraham for a burial ground.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
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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