Chapter 23
Tomb of the Patriarch.[a] 1 Sarah lived to be one hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath-arba, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and he wept for her.
3 Abraham then left the body of his loved one and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a foreigner and I sojourn among you. Sell me a piece of land here for a grave. In that way I can carry the body there and bury it.”
5 The Hittites answered, 6 “Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God living in our midst. Bury your dead one in the best of our tombs. No one among us will prevent you from burying your dead in your tomb.”
7 Then Abraham got up and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites, 8 and said to them, “If it is your will that I take my deceased and bury her, listen to me and convince Ephron, the son of Zohar, 9 to give me the cave of Machpelah, which is found at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me at its full price so that it may be my burial place in your land.”
10 Now Ephron was seated among the Hittites. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites at the entrance to the gate of the city. He said, 11 “Hear me, my lord. I will give you the field along with the cave. In the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you. Bury your dead.”
12 Abraham bowed down to him before the people of the land. 13 He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land and said, “If only you would please listen to me, I will pay you for the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”
14 Ephron said to Abraham, 15 “Hear me, my lord. A field with a value of four hundred silver shekels,[b] what is that between me and you? Bury your dead there.”
16 Abraham accepted Ephron’s terms. He paid Ephron the price that had been mentioned in the hearing of the Hittites, namely, four hundred silver shekels of the current market weight.
17 The field of Ephron was at Machpelah facing Mamre. The field and the cave found there and all the trees in the field and within the boundaries of the field, 18 all these became the property of Abraham in the presence of the Hittites at the entrance to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham as his burial plot.
Footnotes
- Genesis 23:1 This lively and picturesque passage is from the Priestly tradition.
- Genesis 23:15 Four hundred silver shekels are equivalent to about 5 kilograms of silver.