Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Deliverance

Sarah Dies and Abraham Buys a Burial Ground

23 Sarah lived to be 127 years old. ² She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned her death.

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.

¹⁷ That is how the property which had belonged to Ephron at Machpelah east of Mamre, became Abraham's. It included the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees in the field up to the edge of the property. ¹⁸ It was recognized as Abraham's property by all the Hittites who were there at the meeting.

¹⁹ Then Abraham buried his wife Sarah in that cave in the land of Canaan.

3 ^(A)Finally, we could not bear it any longer. So we decided to stay on alone in Athens ² while we sent Timothy, our brother who works with us for God in preaching the Good News about Christ. We sent him to strengthen you and help your faith, ³ so that none of you should turn back because of these persecutions. You yourselves know that such persecutions are part of God's will for us. ⁴ For while we were still with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to be persecuted; and as you well know, that is exactly what happened. ⁵ That is why I had to send Timothy. I could not bear it any longer, so I sent him to find out about your faith. Surely it could not be that the Devil had tempted you and all our work had been for nothing!