1 And the life {chayyei: measured lifespan} of Sarah {Sarah: covenant matriarch} came to one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
2 And Sarah died in Kiryat-Arba {beqiryat-arba: town called Arba} (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn {lispod: formal public lament} for Sarah and to weep for her.
3 And Abraham {Avraham: Covenant Patriarch} rose up from before {penei: personal presence} his dead, and he spoke to the sons of Heth, saying:
4 I am a foreigner {ger: temporary resident} and a resident alien {toshav: non-citizen dweller} among you; grant me a burial holding among you so that I may bury my dead from before me.
5 Then the sons of Heth {bnei-chet: Hittite descendants} answered Abraham, saying {leemor: formal speech introduction} to him.
6 Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God {Elohim, God of Majesty} among us. In the choicest of our graves {mivchar: select tombs}, bury your dead. No man among us will withhold his grave from you, from burying your dead.
7 Then Abraham {Avraham: Covenant Patriarch} rose and bowed himself down {vayishtachu: full prostration in respect} to the people of the land, to the children of Heth.
8 And he spoke with them, saying, “If there is within your soul {nefesh: inner will and desire} to let me bury my dead from before me {millefanai: removed from my presence}, listen to me and intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar.”
9 And let him give me the cave of Machpelah {makhpelah: ancestral burial site}, which belongs to him, which is at the end of his field. For full silver {kesef: complete payment}, let him give it to me among you as a possession of a grave.
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing {oznei: attentive listening} of the sons of Heth, for all who were coming in at the gate {sha'ar: public entrance} of his city, saying,
11 No, my lord {adoni: respectful address}, hear me. The field I have given to you, and the cave that is in it—to you I have given it. In the presence {le-einei: in the sight} of the sons of my people, I have given it to you; bury your dead.
12 And Abraham {Avraham: covenant patriarch} bowed down before the people {am: community assembly} of the land.
13 And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people{am: local community} of the land, saying, “But if you would listen to me: I will give the silver{kesef: legal purchase price} for the field; take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”
14 Then Ephron answered Abraham {Avraham: covenant ancestor}, saying to him {lo: direct reply}.
15 My lord, listen to me: the land worth four hundred shekels of silver {kesef: precious metal money}—what is that between me and you? Bury your dead {met: deceased relative}.
16 Abraham {Avraham: Covenant Patriarch} listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the silver that he had spoken of in the hearing of the sons of Heth: four hundred shekels of silver, current {over: trade standard} with the merchant.
17 Thus the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah {machpelah: double cave area}, which was before Mamre, was established, including the field and the cave that was in it, and every tree that was in the field, which was within all its borders {gevul: property limits} round about.
18 To Abraham {Avraham: covenant recipient} as a possession {miknah: legal holding}, before the eyes of the sons of Heth, among all who went in at the gate of his city.
19 And after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah {ha-makhpelah: doubled burial site}, which is before Mamre—it is Hebron—in the land {erets: territorial inheritance} of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave that was in it were established for Abraham {Avraham: covenant ancestor} as a burial possession {achuzat-qaver: permanent family gravesite} from the sons of Heth.