The Death of Sarah
1Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites.23:3 Or the descendants of Heth; also in verses 5, 7, 10, 16, 18 and 20 He said, 4“I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.”
5The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6“Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. 8He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you.”
10Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 11“No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give23:11 Or sell you the field, and I give23:11 Or sell you the cave that is in it. I give23:11 Or sell it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
12Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 13and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.”
14Ephron answered Abraham, 15“Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels23:15 That is, about 10 pounds or about 4.6 kilograms of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
17So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded 18to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
የሣራ ሞት
1ሣራ አንድ መቶ ሃያ ሰባት ዓመት ኖረች፤ 2በከነዓን ምድር፣ በቂርያት አርባቅ ማለትም በኬብሮን ከተማ ሞተች፤ አብርሃምም ለሣራ ሊያለቅስና ሊያዝን መጣ።
3ከዚያም አብርሃም ከተቀመጠበት ከሚስቱ ሬሳ አጠገብ ተነሣ፤ ኬጢያውያንንም23፥3 ወይም የኬጢ ልጆች፤ 5፡7፡10፡16፡18 እና 20 እንዲሁ እንዲህ አላቸው፤ 4“እኔ ለአገሩ እንግዳ፣ ለሰዉ ባዳ ሆኜ በመካከላችሁ የምኖር ነኝና ለመቃብር የምትሆን ቦታ ሽጡልኝ፤ የሚስቴንም ሬሳ ልቅበርበት።”
5ኬጢያውያንም ለአብርሃም እንዲህ ሲሉ መለሱለት፤ 6“ስማን ጌታዬ፤ አንተ እኮ በእኛ ዘንድ እንደ ኀያል መስፍን ነህ፤ ከመቃብር ቦታችን በመረጥኸው ስፍራ ሬሳህን መቅበር ትችላለህ፤ ማናችንም ብንሆን የሞተብህን ሰው እንዳትቀብርበት የመቃብር ቦታችንን አንከለክልህም።”
7ከዚያም አብርሃም ተነሥቶ የአገሬውን ሕዝብ፣ ኬጢያውያንን እጅ ነሣ፤ 8እንዲህም አላቸው፤ “እንድቀብር ከፈቀዳችሁልኝ፣ አንዴ ስሙኝና የሰዓርን ልጅ ኤፍሮንን ስለ እኔ ሆናችሁ ለምኑልኝ። 9ይኸውም በዕርሻው ድንበር ላይ ያለችውን መክፈላ የተባለችውን ዋሻውን እንዲሸጥልኝ ነው፤ በመካከላችሁም የመቃብር ቦታ እንድትሆነኝ በሙሉ ዋጋ እንዲሸጥልኝ ለምኑልኝ።”
10ኬጢያዊው ኤፍሮንም እዚያው መካከላቸው ተቀምጦ ስለ ነበር፣ ወደ ከተማው በር መግቢያ መጥተው የተሰበሰቡት ኬጢያውያን በሙሉ እየሰሙ ለአብርሃም እንዲህ ሲል መለሰለት፤ 11“እንዲህ አይደለም ጌታዬ፤ አድምጠኝ፤ ዕርሻውን በውስጡ ካለው ዋሻ ጋር ውሰደው። እነሆ፤ በወገኖቼ ኬጢያውያን ፊት ሰጥቼሃለሁ፤23፥11 ወይም ሸጬልሃለሁ ሬሳህን ቅበርበት።”
12አብርሃም እንደ ገና የአገሬውን ሕዝብ እጅ ነሣና 13ሁሉም እየሰሙት፣ “የዕርሻውን ቦታ ዋጋ ልክፈል፤ እባክህን ተቀበለኝና ሬሳዬን ልቅበርበት” አለው።
14ኤፍሮንም ለአብርሃም እንዲህ ሲል መለሰለት፤ 15“ጌታዬ ስማኝ፤ የመሬቱ ዋጋማ አራት መቶ ጥሬ ብር23፥15 4.5 ኪሎ ግራም ገደማ ይሆናል ነው፤ ታዲያ ይህ በእኔና በአንተ መካከል ምን ቁም ነገር አለው? ይልቅስ ሬሳህን ቅበርበት” አለው።
16አብርሃምም፣ ኤፍሮን በኬጢያውያን ፊት በተናገረው ዋጋ ተስማማ፤ በወቅቱም የንግድ መለኪያ መሠረት አራት መቶ ጥሬ ብር መዘነለት።
17በዚህ ሁኔታ፣ በመምሬ አጠገብ በመክፈላ ያለው የኤፍሮን ዕርሻ ቦታ ከነዋሻው በክልሉ ካሉት ዛፎች ሁሉ ጭምር ለአብርሃም በርስትነት ተላለፈ፤ 18ወደ ከተማው በር በመጡት ኬጢያውያንም ሁሉ ፊት የአብርሃም ንብረት መሆኑም ተረጋገጠለት። 19ከዚህም በኋላ አብርሃም በከነዓን ምድር፣ በመምሬ አጠገብ፣ መክፈላ በተባለች ዕርሻ ውስጥ ባለችው ዋሻ የሚስቱን የሣራን ሬሳ ቀበረ፤ ይህችም ኬብሮን ናት። 20ስለዚህ ዕርሻውና ውስጡ የሚገኘው ዋሻ የመቃብር ቦታ እንዲሆን ከኬጢያውያን ለአብርሃም በርስትነት ተላለፈለት።
