SAra was an hundred and .xxvij. yere olde (for so longe lyued she) and than dyed in a heade cyte called Hebron in the londe of Canaan. Than Abraham came to morne Sara and to wepe for her. And Abraham stode vp from the coorse and talked with the sonnes of heth saynge: I am a straunger ãd a foryner amonge yow/ geue me a possession to bury in with you/ that I may bury my dead oute of my sighte.
And the children of heth answered Abraham saynge vnto him: heare vs lorde/ thou art a prynce of God amonge vs. In the chefest of oure sepulchres bury thy dead: None of vs shall forbydd ye his sepulcre/ yt thou shuldest not bury thy deade therein. Abrahã stode vp & bowed hĩ selfe before ye people of ye lãde ye childrẽ of heth.
And he comoned with them saynge: Yf it be youre myndes yt I shall bury my deade oute of my sighte/ heare me ãd speke for me to Ephron the sonne of Zoar: and let him geue me the dubill caue which he hath in the end of his felde/ for as moch money as it is worth/ let him geue it me in the presence of you/ for a possession to bury in. For Hephron dwelled amõge ye childern of heth.
Than Ephron the Hethite answered Abraham in the audyẽce of the childern of Heth and of all that went in at the gates of his cyte/ saynge: Not so/ my lorde/ but heare me: The felde geue I the/ and the caue that therein is/ geue I the also/ And even in the presence of the sonnes of my people geve I it the to bury thy deede in. Than Abraham bowed himselfe before the people of the lãde and spake vnto Ephrõ in the audyence of the people of the contre saynge: I praye the heare me/ I will geue sylver for the felde/ take it of me/ ãd so will I bury my deed there.
Ephron answered Abrahã saynge vnto him My lorde/ harken vnto me. The lande is worth iiij. hundreth sycles of syluer: But what is that betwixte the and me? bury thy deede. And Abraham harkened vnto Ephron and weyde him the sylver which he had sayde in the audyence of the sonnes of Heth. Euen .iiij. hũdred syluer sycles of currant money amonge marchauntes
Thus was the felde of Ephron where in the dubbill caue is before Mamre: euen the felde & the caue that is therein and all the trees of the felde which growe in all the borders rounde aboute/ made sure vnto Abraham for a possession/ in the syghte of the childern of Heth and of all that went in at the gates of the cyte. And then Abraham buried Sara his wyfe in the double caue of the felde that lyeth before Mãre/ otherwise called Ebron in the lande of Canaan. And so both the felde ãd the caue that is therein/ was made vnto Abraham/ a sure possession to bury in/ of the sonnes of Heth.
¶ The .xxiiij. Chapter
ABraham was olde and stryken in dayes/ and the LORde had blessed him in all thinges. And he sayde vn to his eldest servaunte of his house which had the rule over all that he had: Put thy hande vnder my thye that I maye make the swere by the LORde that is God of heauen and God of the erth/ that thou shalt not take a wyfe vnto my sonne/ of the doughters of the canaanytes/ amonge which I dwell. But shalt goo vnto my contre and to my kynred/ and there take a wyfe vnto my sonne Isaac.
Thã sayde the seruaunte vnto him: what ãd yf the womã wyll not agree to come with me vnto this lãde/ shall I brynge thy sonne agayne vnto the lande which thou camest out of? And Abrahã sayde vnto him: bewarre of that/ that thou brĩge not my sonne thither. The LORde God of heauen which toke me from my fathers house and from the lande where I was borne/ and which spake vnto me and sware vnto me saynge: vnto thy seed wyll I geue this lande/ he shall sende his angell before the/ yt thou mayst take a wife vnto my sonne from thence. Neuerthelesse yf the womã will not agree to come with the than shalt thou be with out daunger of this ooth. But aboue all thinge brynge not my sonne thyther agayne. And the seruaunte put his hand vnder the thye of Abraham and sware to him as concernynge that matter.