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 that 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 that 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 that 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 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 legally made over 18to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19Afterwards 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 legally made over to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
亞伯拉罕買地葬撒拉
1撒拉享年一百二十七歲， 2在迦南境內的基列·亞巴，即希伯崙去世。亞伯拉罕在那裡痛哭，哀悼她。 3他從妻子屍體旁邊站起來對赫人說： 4「我是寄居在你們這裡的異鄉人，請你們給我一塊地，我好埋葬我的亡妻。」 5赫人回答說： 6「我主，請聽我們說，你在我們中間是一位尊貴的王子，你可以選我們這裡最好的墳地，沒有人會反對你使用他的墳地埋葬你的妻子。」 7亞伯拉罕就向他們下拜，說： 8「如果你們真的准我安葬妻子，就請你們代我求瑣轄的兒子以弗崙， 9請他當著你們的面，把他田地盡頭的麥比拉洞按實價賣給我作墳地。」
10當時以弗崙正坐在赫人當中，於是他在城門口赫人聚集的地方當眾答覆亞伯拉罕說： 11「不可！我主，請聽我說，我當著族人的面，把那塊地和山洞送給你，你只管去安葬你的妻子！」 12亞伯拉罕向當地的人下拜， 13當眾對以弗崙說：「你若願意，請聽我說，我要把地錢給你，請你收下，好讓我安葬我的妻子。」 14以弗崙回答說： 15「我主，請聽我說，四公斤半銀子的地對你我來說算什麼呢？去安葬你的妻子吧！」 16於是，亞伯拉罕就照以弗崙當眾提出的價錢，按通用的重量單位秤了四公斤半銀子給他。
17這樣，以弗崙在麥比拉、靠近幔利的那塊地和山洞及地界內所有的樹木， 18都歸了亞伯拉罕。這是在城門口的赫人面前買下的。
19之後，亞伯拉罕把妻子撒拉安葬在迦南的幔利附近、麥比拉田間的洞裡。幔利就是希伯崙。 20這塊赫人的地和其中的山洞從此成了亞伯拉罕家的墳地。
