Chapter 23

     Sarah's lifetime—the span of Sarah's life—came to one hundred and twenty-seven years.  Sarah died in Qiryath Arba—now Chebrown—in the land of Kenaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her.  Then Abraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Chivvi, saying, "I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among you, that I may remove my dead for burial."  And the Chivvi replied to Abraham, saying to him, "Hear us, my lord:  You are the elect of Elohim among us.  Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold his burial place from you for burying your dead."  Thereupon Abraham bowed low to the people of the land, the Chivvi, and he said to them.  "If it is your wish that I remove my dead for burial, you must agree to intercede for me with Ephron son of Tsochar.  Let him sell me the cave of Makpelah that he owns, which is at the edge of his land.  Let him sell it to me at the full price, for a burial site in your midst."

     Ephron was present among the Chivvi; so Ephron the Chivvi answered Abraham in the hearing of the Chivvi, all who entered the gate of his town, saying, "No, my lord, hear 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."  Then Abraham bowed low before the people of the land and spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "If only you would hear me out?  Let me pay the price of the land; accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there."  And Ephron replied to Abraham, saying to him, "My lord, do hear me?  A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me?  Go and bury your dead."  Abraham accepted Ephron's terms.  Abraham paid out to Ephron the money that he had named in the hearing of the Chivvi—four hundred shekels of silver at the going merchants rate.

     So Ephron's land in Makpelah, near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the confines of that field—passed to Abraham as his possession, in the presence of the Chivvi, of all who entered the gate of his town.  And then Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Makpelah, facing Mamre—now Chebrown—in the land of Kenaan.  Thus the field with its cave passed from the Chivvi to Abraham, as a burial site.

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THE WORD OF ELOHIM

GENESIS