Genesis 23

23 ¹ Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old; these were the years of Sarah's life. ² She 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. ³ Then Abraham rose from beside her body and said to the Hittites, ⁴ "I am a foreigner and a stranger among you. Give me property for a burial site among you, so that I may bury my dead."

⁵ The Hittites replied to Abraham, ⁶ "Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs; none of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead." ^a a v6 'A prince of God' was an ancient Hebrew expression for an exceptionally great or honored leader — not a religious title.

⁷ Abraham rose and bowed low before the people of the land, the Hittites, ⁸ and he said to them, "If you are willing for me to bury my dead, then listen to me: ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf ⁹ to give me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and lies at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for the full price, as a burial property."

¹⁰ Now Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people, and he replied to Abraham before all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, ^b b v10 The city gate was the public place where business was done and legal matters were settled before witnesses. ¹¹ "No, my lord. Listen to me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. Before my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."

¹² Again Abraham bowed before the people of the land, ¹³ and he said to Ephron before them all, "Please, if you would only listen to me. I will pay the price of the field; take it from me, so that I may bury my dead there."

¹⁴ Ephron replied to Abraham, ¹⁵ "My lord, listen to me: the land is worth about ten pounds of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead." ^c c v15 A shekel was a weight of silver (about 11 grams); four hundred shekels was the price of the burial field.

¹⁶ Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named before the Hittites: about ten pounds of silver, at the standard weight used by merchants.

¹⁷ So Ephron's field in Machpelah, near Mamre — the field together with its cave and all the trees within its borders — was legally transferred ¹⁸ to Abraham as his property 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 In this way the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial property.