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Genesis

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Sarah's Death and Burial

Chapter 23

1 Sarah lived 127 years. 2 Then she died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and said to the sons of Heth, 4 “I am a foreign resident, a temporary settler,⁠ among you. Grant me ownership of a burial site among you so that I may bury my dead.” 5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, 6 “Listen, sir, you are a mighty prince among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham got up and bowed down to the local people, the sons of Heth. 8 Then he said to them, “If you agree that I may bury my dead, then hear me out. Ask Ephron the son of Zohar 9 if he will sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly for the full price, so that I may own it as a burial site.” 10 (Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth.) Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth—before all who entered the gate of his city— 11 “No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell you both the field and the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I sell it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Abraham bowed before the local people 13 and said to Ephron in their hearing, “Hear me, if you will. I pay to you the price of the field. Take it from me so that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.” 16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and weighed out for him the price that Ephron had quoted in the hearing of the sons of Heth—400⁠ pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. 17 So Abraham secured Ephron’s field in Machpelah, next to Mamre, including the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border, 18 as his property in the presence of the sons of Heth before all who entered the gate of Ephron’s city. 19 After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron)⁠ in the land of Canaan. 20 So Abraham secured the field and the cave that was in it as a burial site from the sons of Heth.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 23:16 and Acts 7:16

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

In Genesis, Abraham pays 400 silver pieces for a field and cave at Machpelah to bury Sarah. Acts recalls this purchase but mixes the narrative with Jacob's land deal at Shechem, crediting Abraham with buying a tomb from the sons of Hamor.

Passages

Genesis 23:16

Hebrew Bible
15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.” 16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and weighed out for him the price that Ephron had quoted in the hearing of the sons of Heth—400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. 17 So Abraham secured Ephron’s field in Machpelah, next to Mamre, including the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Acts 7:16

New Testament
15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, along with our ancestors, 16 and their bones were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 17 “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, the people increased greatly in number in Egypt,
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

References

... Here in Acts it is said that Abraham (not Jacob) bought the land at Shechem from the sons of Hamor, and Shechem (not Machpelah/Hebron) is named as the site of the burial of Jacob. Thus there are two apparent differences from Genesis: (1) the attribution of the purchase of the tomb at Shechem from the sons of Hamor to Abraham instead of Jacob; (2) the burial of Jacob in the same tomb as his sons in Shechem rather than in the cave of Machpelah. With regard to (1), most commentators think that a simple confusion in the names has been made by Stephen (or Luke). However, Bruce (1988: 134n16, 137n35) suggests that Stephen, who earlier ran together the two calls of Abraham in Ur and in Haran and two divine messages in 7:7, here runs together the two accounts of purchases of land in Canaan (it is unlikely that Stephen identified Shechem and Hebron, towns that were over thirty miles apart in separate territories). ...
I. Howard Marshall, “Acts,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 1316–1318.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 23:16 and Acts 7:16

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