Genesis 23

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Sarah lived to be 127 years old and died in Kiriath-arba, also known as Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned her death and then spoke to the Hittites to request a local burial site. He asked them to intercede with Ephron son of Zohar to sell him the cave of Machpelah at its full price. Ephron offered to give Abraham both the field and the cave, but Abraham insisted on paying the full value. Abraham weighed out four hundred shekels of silver in the presence of the Hittites, purchasing the property near Mamre. Consequently, the field, the cave, and all its trees were officially deeded to Abraham, and he buried Sarah there.

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¹Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ²She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her. ³Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.” ⁵The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.” ⁷Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. ⁸“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.” ¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered 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.” ¹²Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land ¹³and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants. ¹⁷So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over ¹⁸to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.