Top of Page
Page Style
lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; these were all the years of Sarah’s life. 2 She died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3 Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 “I am a foreigner and a stranger among you. Give me a plot of land for a burial site among you so I can bury my dead.”
5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “My lord, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead.”
7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9 to give me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me for the full price, in your presence, as a burial site among you.”
10 Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. So in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite said to Abraham, 11 “No, my lord, listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 13 and he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “Please listen to me. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and I can bury my dead there.”
14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
16 Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed the silver for Ephron he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, measured according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field—became 18 Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial place.