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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | Gen 23:1 | When Sarah was 127 years old,
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| | Gen 23:2 | she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.
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| | Gen 23:3 | Then, leaving her body, he went to the Hittite elders and said,
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| | Gen 23:4 | "Here I am, a stranger in a foreign land, with no place to bury my wife. Please let me have a piece of land for a burial plot."
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| | Gen 23:5 | The Hittites replied to Abraham,
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| | Gen 23:6 | "Certainly, for you are an honored prince among us. It will be a privilege to have you choose the finest of our tombs so you can bury her there."
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| | Gen 23:7 | Then Abraham bowed low before them and said,
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| | Gen 23:8 | "Since this is how you feel, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar
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| | Gen 23:9 | to let me have the cave of Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I want to pay the full price, of course, whatever is publicly agreed upon, so I may have a permanent burial place for my family."
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| | Gen 23:10 | Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the elders of the town.
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| | Gen 23:11 | "No, sir," he said to Abraham, "please listen to me. I will give you the cave and the field. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead."
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| | Gen 23:12 | Abraham bowed again to the people of the land,
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| | Gen 23:13 | and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. "No, listen to me," he insisted. "I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there."
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| | Gen 23:14 | "Well," Ephron answered,
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| | Gen 23:15 | "the land is worth four hundred pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead."
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| | Gen 23:16 | So Abraham paid Ephron the amount he had suggested, four hundred pieces of silver, as was publicly agreed.
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| | Gen 23:17 | He bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees nearby.
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| | Gen 23:18 | They became Abraham's permanent possession by the agreement made in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate.
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| | Gen 23:19 | So Abraham buried Sarah there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, which is at Hebron.
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| | Gen 23:20 | The field and the cave were sold to Abraham by the Hittites as a permanent burial place.
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