The Wife Who Arrived by Camel
Sarah was quite old when she died at Hebron. Abraham was sad and he cried for a while over her body—but then he got up from beside his dead wife and said to his neighbors the Hittites, "I am a stranger and a foreigner residing among you; please, I need some of your land for a burial place, so that I can bury Sarah someplace where I cannot see her grave." The Hittites answered Abraham, "Listen, my lord; foreigner or not, you are an important person living among us. You can bury Sarah wherever you want. None of us will withhold from you any of our land for burying your dead wife." Abraham bowed in gratitude to the Hittites, and said, "If you are willing that I bury my dead Sarah where I cannot see her grave, please ask your countryman Ephron if he will provide me with the cave of Machpelah, which he owns, which is at the far end of his property. I promise in your presence that I will pay full price for the land.” Ephron the Hittite had been sitting amon...