Study Desk

Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron^(a)) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites:^[a]

"I am a foreign resident among you.^(b) Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead."^[b](c)

The Hittites replied to Abraham,^[c]

"Listen to us, lord.^[d] You are God's chosen one^[e] among us. Bury your dead in our finest burial place.^[f] None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."

Then Abraham rose and bowed down to the Hittites, the people of the land.

He said to them, "If you are willing for me to bury my dead, listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

to give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me in your presence, for the full price, as a burial place."

Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. So in the presence^[g] of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city,^(d) Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham:

"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^[h] of my people. Bury your dead."

Abraham bowed down to the people of the land

and said to Ephron in the presence^[i] of the people of the land, "Please listen to me. Let me pay the price of the field. Accept it from me, and let me bury my dead there."

Ephron answered Abraham and said to him,

"My lord, listen to me. Land worth 400 shekels of silver^(e)—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."

Abraham agreed with Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had agreed to in the presence^[j] of the Hittites: 400 shekels of silver at the current commercial rate.^(f)

So Ephron's field^(g) at Machpelah near Mamre—the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the boundaries of the field—became

Abraham's possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city.

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

The field with its cave passed from the Hittites to Abraham^(h) as a burial place.