1 AND Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: [ Abraham would have been 137, Isaac 37 and Ishmael 51 years old. Sarah here is 127 so they are 10 years apart. ] these were the years of the life of Sarah.

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; [ Following his years in Beersheba, Abraham moved his family back to Hebron, where, according to Muslim tradition, he was directed to build yet another sanctuary, or temple.(Hanauer, Folk-Lore of the Holy Land) At Hebron he experienced the last major recorded trial of his life, the death of Sarah at the age of 127 years, as recounted here. ] the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

3 ¶ And Abraham stood up from before his dead, [ His wife Sarah. ] and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; [ For you Abraham you can choose which ever one that you want. ] none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, [ Abraham expresses interest in the cave of Machpelah and wants to purchase that cave. ]

9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you.

10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,

11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.

13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.

14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,

15 My lord, hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, [ Abraham paid him 400 sheckels of silver. "A stranger in a strange land!". "Owning no foot of earth in a country that had been given to him by the Almighty, [Abraham] must buy a burial place for his dead!". Abraham was over-generous in the transaction, paying more than what the land was worth. "He never drove a hard bargain," notes Hugh Nibley, "not even with . . . the generous Ephron the Hittite, who would have given him the burial cave for nothing." (Nibley, Abraham's Creation Drama, 2) ] which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

17 ¶ And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, [ The word Machpelah itself was understood by early translations to mean "double," referring, according to some rabbinic sources, to the fact that Abraham and Sarah were eventually laid to rest as a couple, as would be Isaac and Jacob and their wives in the same cave. ( Encyclopaedia Judaica, 11:670) Jewish kabbalistic sources also interpret the word Machpelah to mean a doubling of the Hebrew letter heh, and thereby a veiled reference to the Lord's own name, Yahweh, which contains two such letters.(See Ouaknin, Mysteries of the Kabbalah, 388) It was the Lord himself who had changed Abram's name by adding the letter heh, resulting in "Abraham," or "Father of a Multitude" — the name that God urgently spoke twice to stay Abraham's hand on Mount Moriah and to place upon him the divine seal of his exaltation. In this sense the word Machpelah seems particularly fitting to memorialize the temporary resting place of the mortal bodies of Abraham and Sarah, who, because of the Lord's priesthood power that had joined and sealed them as an eternal couple, would be inseparable not only in mortality but also in the future world. ] which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure [ The description of the property was just disclosed (the legal description of the property) and then made sure or made legally binding so that he owned it. ]

18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. [ Centuries later, after their descendants had erected the Jerusalem temple, the temple service was not begun until the priestly lookout saw the sun's rays shining on the graves of the patriarchs.(Scherman and Zlotowitz, Bereishis: Genesis, 1(a):887) ]

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.