23
About the burial cave
1 Sarah lived to be 127 years. 2 She died in Canaan in the town called Hebron. Her husband cried and was very upset about his wife dying.
3 Then Abraham left the place where his wife's body was lying and went to the Hittite people to talk to them there in Hebron. He found them in their usual place for talking, sitting at the gate where the people gathered together.
Abraham said to them, 4 “I am a stranger. I have come from a different country but I am living here with you today. So let me buy some land so that I can bury my wife.”
5 They said, 6 “Listen to us. We look on you as a great leader. So go and look at our land. And if you see a good place, you can bury your wife there. None of us will refuse to give you our land. Don't worry, you can bury your wife anywhere.”
7 Then Abraham bowed down to them, because people in that country always used to do that when they were among strangers. 8 He said, “That is good, that I can bury my wife here. So ask Ephron, Zohar's son, for me. 9 Ask him about the cave called Machpelah so I can buy it. It is at the edge of his land. Ask him so that I can buy it and give him the whole price, here where you can all see me. Then it will be mine for me to put all my dead people in it.”
10-11 Ephron himself was sitting there with the Hittite people. He said, “Listen to me. I will give that whole field of mine to you, and also the cave. I will give it to you today, in front of my people, so that you can put your wife in it.” And all the people there heard him.
12 But Abraham bowed down again in front of the Hittite people. 13 Then he spoke to Ephron, so that everyone could hear him. He said, “Wait a moment, and listen. I will buy your whole field. Take the money today and I will put my wife there.”
14 Ephron answered, 15 “The right amount of money for that place is only 400 coins. So now let us not talk about that any more, and you can bury your wife there.”
16 Abraham agreed and counted the money that Ephron had said, in front of everyone. Then he put down 400 coins. He made the money exactly right so that it would be the full amount.
17 So Abraham bought that land at Machpelah from Ephron. It is near Mamre's place. He bought the land with the grass and all the trees and also the cave. 18 Those people who lived there heard everything that Abraham said. So they knew now that the land belonged to him. 19 And Abraham put his wife Sarah in that cave in the country of Canaan. 20 The land belonged to the Hittite people first, and now it belonged to Abraham, and also the cave, so that he could put his dead people in it.