Genesis 23

¹Now Sarah lived 127 years. These were the years of Sarah’s life.

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

³And Abraham rose up from before his dead wife and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴“I am a sojourner and a temporary resident living among you. Give me property for a tomb among you, so that I may bury my dead from before me.”

⁵The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

⁶“Hear us, my lord. You are a mighty ruler among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. No man among us will withhold from you his tomb for burying your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham rose up and bowed down to the people of the land, that is, to the sons of Heth.

⁸And he spoke with them, saying, “If you are willing to allow me to bury my dead from before me, hear me and intercede with Ephron the son of Zohar for me,

⁹that he give me the cave of Machpelah that he owns, which is at the edge of his field. For the full price in silver let him give it to me in your presence as a property for a burying place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, that is, of all those who come to the gate of his city, saying,

¹¹“No, my lord, hear me! I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it. Before the eyes of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

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

¹³And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “Hear me, if you will. I will give the price of the field. Accept it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

¹⁵“My lord, hear me. A piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver—what is that between me and you? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶And Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, 400 shekels of silver, according to the current merchants’ rate.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron that was at Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field and the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, that were within its boundaries, were deeded over

¹⁸to Abraham as a possession before the eyes of the sons of Heth, before all those who come to the gate of his city.

¹⁹And after this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah 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 deeded over from the sons of Heth to Abraham as property for a burying place.