Genesis 23

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

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

3Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites.

4“I am a foreigner and a temporary resident among you,” he said. “Give me property among you for a burial site, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

5The Hittites answered Abraham,

6“Listen to us, my lord. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”

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

8and he said to them, “If you are willing for me to bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

9to 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 property for a burial site.”

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

11“No, my lord, listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”

12Abraham bowed down before the people of the land,

13and he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “If only you will listen to me! I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, so 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.”

16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, at the rate current among the merchants.

17So Ephron’s field in Machpelah, near Mamre—the field with the cave in it and all the trees within the borders of the field all around—passed

18to Abraham as his property in the presence of the Hittites, all who had come in at the gate of his city.

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

20So the field and the cave in it passed from the Hittites to Abraham as property for a burial site.