CHAPTER 23
1 Forsooth Sarah lived an hundred and seven and twenty years,
2 and died in the city of Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to bewail and beweep her.
3 And when he had risen from the office of the dead body, he spake to the sons of Heth, and said,
4 I am a comeling and a pilgrim with you; give ye to me right of [a] sepulchre with you, that I bury my dead body.
5 And the sons of Heth answered, and said,
6 Lord, hear thou us; thou art the prince of God with us; bury thou thy dead body in our chosen sepulchres, and no man shall be able to forbid thee, that not thou bury thy dead body in the sepulchre of him.
7 And Abraham [a] rose, and worship-ped or honoured the people of the land, that is, the sons of Heth.
8 And he said to them, If it pleaseth your soul that I bury my dead body, hear ye me, and pray ye for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,
9 that he give to me the double cave, which he hath in the uttermost part of his field; for sufficient money give he it to me before you into possession of [a] sepulchre.
10 Forsooth Ephron dwelled in the midst of the sons of Heth. And Ephron answered to Abraham, while all men heard that entered by the gate of that city, and said,
11 My lord, it shall not be done so, but more hearken thou to that that I say; I give to thee the field, and the cave which is therein, while the sons of my people be present; bury thou thy dead body.
12 Abraham worshipped before the Lord, and before the people of the land,
13 and he spake to Ephron, while his people stood about, I beseech, that thou hear me; I shall give money for the field, receive thou it, and so I shall bury my dead body in the field.
14 And Ephron answered,
15 My lord, hear thou me; the land which thou askest for is worth four hundred shekels of silver, that is the price betwixt me and thee; but how much is this? bury thou thy dead body.
16 And when Abraham had heard this, he numbered out the money which Ephron asked for, while the sons of Heth heard, four hundred shekels of silver, and of proved common money.
17 And the field that was sometime of Ephron, in which field was a double den, beholding to Mamre, as well that field, as the den, and all the trees thereof, in all the terms thereof by compass,
18 was confirmed to Abraham into possession, while the sons of Heth saw, and all men that entered by the gate of that city.
19 And so Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the double den of the field, that beheld to Mamre; this is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20 And the field, and the den that was therein, was confirmed of the sons of Heth to Abraham, into possession of a sepulchre.