³ He left the place where his wife's body was lying, went to the Hittites, and said, ^4 (A)“I am a foreigner living here among you; sell me some land, so that I can bury my wife.”

⁵ They answered, ⁶ “Listen to us, sir. We look upon you as a mighty leader; bury your wife in the best grave that we have. Any of us would be glad to give you a grave, so that you can bury her.”

⁷ Then Abraham bowed before them ⁸ and said, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife here, please ask Ephron son of Zohar ⁹ to sell me Machpelah Cave, which is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price, here in your presence, so that I can own it as a burial ground.”

¹⁰ Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there, ¹¹ “Listen, sir; I will give you the whole field and the cave that is in it. Here in the presence of my own people, I will give it to you, so that you can bury your wife.”

¹² But Abraham bowed before the Hittites ¹³ and said to Ephron, so that everyone could hear, “May I ask you, please, to listen. I will buy the whole field. Accept my payment, and I will bury my wife there.”

¹⁴ Ephron answered, ¹⁵ “Sir, land worth only four hundred pieces of silver—what is that between us? Bury your wife in it.” ¹⁶ Abraham agreed and weighed out the amount that Ephron had mentioned in the hearing of the people—four hundred pieces of silver, according to the standard weights used by the merchants.

^32 (A)The body of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought from Egypt, was buried at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph's descendants.