Genesis 23
23
Sarah’s Death
1Sarah lived to be 127 years old. This was the length of her life. 2She died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to cry about her death.
3Then Abraham left the side of his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites, 4“I’m a stranger with no permanent home. Let me have some of your property for a tomb so that I can bury my dead wife.”
5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6“Listen to us, sir. You are a mighty leader among us. Bury your dead in one of our best tombs. Not one of us will withhold from you his tomb for burying your dead.”
7Abraham got up in front of the Hittites, the people of that region, and bowed with his face touching the ground. 8He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife, listen to me. Encourage Ephron, son of Zohar, 9to let me have the cave of Machpelah that he owns at the end of his field. He should sell it to me for its full price as my property to be used as a tomb among you.”
10Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. He answered Abraham so that everyone who was entering the city gate could hear him. He said, 11“No, sir, listen to me. I’m giving you the field together with the cave that is in it. My people are witnesses that I’m giving it to you. Bury your wife!”
12Abraham bowed down again in front of the people of that region. 13He spoke to Ephron so that the people of that region could hear him. He said, “If you would only listen to me. I will pay you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I can bury my wife there.”
14Ephron answered Abraham, 15“Sir, listen to me. The land is worth ten pounds of silver. What is that between us? Bury your wife!”
16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms. So he weighed out for Ephron the amount stated in front of the Hittites: ten pounds of silver at the current merchants’ exchange rate.
17So Ephron’s field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, was sold 18to Abraham. His property included the field with the cave in it as well as all the trees inside the boundaries of the field.#23:18 The last part of verse 17 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 18 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English. The Hittites together with all who had entered the city gate were the official witnesses for the agreement.
19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre (that is, Hebron). 20So the field and its cave were sold by the Hittites to Abraham as his property to be used as a tomb.
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Genesis 23: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Genesis 23
23
1And the life of Sarah is a hundred and twenty and seven years — years of the life of Sarah;
2and Sarah dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which [is] Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her.
3And Abraham riseth up from the presence of his dead, and speaketh unto the sons of Heth, saying,
4‘A sojourner and a settler I [am] with you; give to me a possession of a burying-place with you, and I bury my dead from before me.’
5And the sons of Heth answer Abraham, saying to him,
6‘Hear us, my lord; a prince of God [art] thou in our midst; in the choice of our burying-places bury thy dead: none of us his burying-place doth withhold from thee, from burying thy dead.’
7And Abraham riseth and boweth himself to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth,
8and he speaketh with them, saying, ‘If it is your desire to bury my dead from before me, hear me, and meet for me with Ephron, son of Zoar;
9and he giveth to me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which [is] in the extremity of his field; for full money doth he give it to me, in your midst, for a possession of a burying-place.’
10And Ephron is sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answereth Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, of all those entering the gate of his city, saying,
11‘Nay, my lord, hear me: the field I have given to thee, and the cave that [is] in it, to thee I have given it; before the eyes of the sons of my people I have given it to thee — bury thy dead.’
12And Abraham boweth himself before the people of the land,
13and speaketh unto Ephron in the ears of the people of the land, saying, ‘Only — if thou wouldest hear me — I have given the money of the field — accept from me, and I bury my dead there.’
14And Ephron answereth Abraham, saying to him,
15‘My lord, hear me: the land — four hundred shekels of silver; between me and thee, what [is] it? — thy dead bury.’
16And Abraham hearkeneth unto Ephron, and Abraham weigheth to Ephron the silver which he hath spoken of in the ears of the sons of Heth, four hundred silver shekels, passing with the merchant.
17And established are the field of Ephron, which [is] in Machpelah, which [is] before Mamre, the field and the cave which [is] in it, and all the trees which [are] in the field, which [are] in all its border round about,
18to Abraham by purchase, before the eyes of the sons of Heth, among all entering the gate of his city.
19And after this hath Abraham buried Sarah his wife at the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (which [is] Hebron), in the land of Canaan;
20and established are the field, and the cave which [is] in it, to Abraham for a possession of a burying-place, from the sons of Heth.
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