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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Genesis 23 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/23.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Genesis 23</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/22.htm" title="Genesis 22">◄</a> Genesis 23 <a href="../genesis/24.htm" title="Genesis 24">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/genesis/23.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">The Burial of Sarah</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>When Sarah was 127 years old, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>she died at Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The Hittites replied to Abraham, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>“Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then Abraham bowed low before the Hittites <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>and said, “Since you are willing to help me in this way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>to let me buy his cave at Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I will pay the full price in the presence of witnesses, so I will have a permanent burial place for my family.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the Hittite elders of the town. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>“No, my lord,” he said to Abraham, “please listen to me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Ephron answered Abraham, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“My lord, please listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and paid the amount he had suggested—400 pieces of silver, weighed according to the market standard. The Hittite elders witnessed the transaction.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding trees. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron). <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">23:15 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">400 shekels,</span><span class="ft"> about 10 pounds or 4.6 kilograms in weight; also in 23:16.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../genesis/22.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Genesis 22"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Genesis 22" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../genesis/24.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Genesis 24"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Genesis 24" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/genesis/23-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>