Genesis 23

New King James Version

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ²So Sarah died in ^(A)Kirjath Arba (that is, ^(B)Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of ^(C)Heth, saying, ⁴^(D)“I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. ^(E)Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶“Hear us, my lord: You are ^(F)a ^[a]mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

⁷Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. ⁸And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and ^[b]meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹that he may give me the cave of ^(G)Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”

¹⁰Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who ^(H)entered at the gate of his city, saying, ¹¹^(I)“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

¹²Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; ¹³and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵“My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred ^(J)shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” ¹⁶And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham ^(K)weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

¹⁷So ^(L)the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded ¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰So the field and the cave that is in it ^(M)were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

Footnotes

Genesis 23:6 Lit. prince of God
Genesis 23:8 entreat

Genesis 24:1-28

New King James Version

A Bride for Isaac

24 Now Abraham ^(A)was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord ^(B)had blessed Abraham in all things. ²So Abraham said ^(C)to the oldest servant of his house, who ^(D)ruled over all that he had, “Please, ^(E)put your hand under my thigh, ³and I will make you ^(F)swear^[a] by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that ^(G)you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; ⁴^(H)but you shall go ^(I)to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there. ⁷The Lord God of heaven, who ^(J)took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ^(K)‘To your ^[b]descendants I give this land,’ ^(L)He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then ^(M)you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, ^(N)for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to ^(O)the city of Nahor. ¹¹And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time ^(P)when women go out to draw water. ¹²Then he ^(Q)said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please ^(R)give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold, here ^(S)I stand by the well of water, and ^(T)the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And ^(U)by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵And it happened, ^(V)before he had finished speaking, that behold, ^(W)Rebekah,^[c] who was born to Bethuel, son of ^(X)Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶Now the young woman ^(Y)was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her. And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

¹⁸^(Z)So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. ²¹And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether ^(AA)the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

²²So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden ^(AB)nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold, ²³and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us ^[d]to lodge?”

²⁴So she said to him, ^(AC)“I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”

²⁶Then the man ^(AD)bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷And he said, ^(AE)“Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^(AF)His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord ^(AG)led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” ²⁸So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.