Abraham: The Covenant

Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites,

“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

The Hittites replied to Abraham,

“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”

Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.

“If you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf

to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.”

Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham,

“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”

Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land

and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”

Ephron answered Abraham,

“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

Abraham 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 standard of the merchants.

So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over

to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.

After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.

By now Abraham was old and well along in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.

So Abraham instructed the chief servant of his household, who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,

and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

but will go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac.”

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there.

The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and my native land, who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—He will send His angel before you so that you can take a wife for my son from there.