Introduction

Greetings, everyone! Let's delve into the twenty-third chapter of Genesis. Moses wrote about Abraham some four to five hundred years later. We can reasonably believe that the Abraham Moses wrote about was likely the same Abraham who had been passed down through oral tradition among the Israelites for those four to five centuries. This means that during those four to five hundred years, Abraham's name was highly esteemed among the Israelites. What does Moses want to tell us by writing this chapter? It is to highlight several things: A person can become a great prince by relying on God. Even if one is a foreigner or sojourner in a place, he can still be a very honorable person. That is truly remarkable. If you rely on money and become a lover of money, you cannot become a great prince. That would be rather pathetic.

If history were not written this way, if it recorded Abraham constantly amassing wealth, exploiting people, and taking advantage of every situation, then upon reading the Bible, everyone would find Abraham disgusting. Even the most miserly of Israelites, regardless of their love for money, considered Abraham to be powerful and honorable, and they all said, "I am a descendant of Abraham!" If Abraham were a profiteer, and someone asked you, "Whose descendant are you?" I would say, "Don't ask about my lineage." But now, the Israelites all say, "I am a descendant of Abraham." Even in the time of Jesus, the Pharisees prided themselves on being descendants of Abraham.

Life in this world is quite interesting. Corrupt officials and unscrupulous merchants, after committing their misdeeds, still admire the good officials. Of course, good officials must not only be incorruptible but also capable, which is not easy, but it is honorable. If you are a businessman who earns a lot of money and is also respected, people will say, "Truly honorable!" How one manages one's reputation throughout life is very important!

You must study this chapter carefully. I may not be able to hit all the key points, but I will share what I know and what I have seen with you. Most importantly, you must have your own perspective. The theme of this chapter is: Be a great prince. This chapter not only records the story of Abraham but also tells Abraham's descendants to learn from Abraham and become great princes. That is the key.

Should Christians strive to be great princes or just be bumpkins? A bumpkin is someone who is stingy and takes petty advantages. Some country folks are better at interpersonal skills than Christians. Please don't be offended by what I say, but I have seen many Christians who lack social skills. If you ask me if I would hire a Christian to work in a company, I would say no. Because they are often not up to the task! Really not up to it! They can't do anything well, which is quite deadly, isn't it? The main thing is they lack dignity. They appear spiritual on the surface but are nothing inside.

Reputation is Extremely Important

When I mention reputation, some might say, "Teacher, are you going to talk about yourself again?" I won't talk about myself; I'll talk about Abraham, so you won't get upset or uncomfortable. Some people feel I am always bragging about myself, being particularly ostentatious. I won't talk about that to avoid causing you to stumble. But I must tell you that reputation is extremely important!

Why do people buy brands? Because carrying a branded bag can enhance one's image. Why does a branded bag enhance one's image? Because it makes one appear more dignified and the quality is also very good. But I want to tell you that not all branded items have the best quality, but people like brands because they make them feel more dignified.

You buy branded bags, so why not cultivate your own brand? If you cultivate your own brand well, you don't need to buy bags; you will be more dignified than any bag. But many people value the bag more than themselves, which I find strange. Someone walked into my office with a Hermès bag, slamming it on my desk. They had been striving for a long time to finally be able to afford it. But when I looked at the person, I thought, "Oh dear!" The bag overshadowed the person. The bag is quite valuable, but the person is quite cheap.

Don't get it wrong; you are very honorable, and so am I. If a bag overshadows a person, I think it's not worth it! So reputation is extremely important. Do you know what God said to Abraham when He first spoke to him? He said, "I will make your name great!" This statement is so important! Is a name valuable? Yes, it is!

For businesses, some traditional accounting concepts are no longer suitable because many things are intangible assets. For example, Coca-Cola. Is the brand valuable? Very valuable! If you own the Coca-Cola brand, you are powerful! Everyone should know that these are intangible assets. Alibaba, Tencent, and others are all brands, and brands are cultivated. So reputation is very important.

If a person doesn't know how to cultivate their reputation, it's difficult. You must cultivate your own reputation. Why is reputation so important? Because it inspires trust. Abraham's personal brand was very important. When people saw him, they knew that God was with him and that he was blessed in everything he did. He was a man of God, a very honorable person. He did not love money, so you didn't have to worry about being cheated when dealing with him. You could cheat him, but he would not cheat you. How important is a brand!

A person's brand image is closely related to God's desire to shape you into a person with a brand. If God wants to shape you into a person with a brand, will you cooperate? Don't think that if you mess around, God will make your name great; that you can just lie down, eat, drink, and wait for death, and then God will make your name great! I think God will make your bad name great, which would be troublesome. The first place is at the front, but your first place is at the very end. Are they the same? If God wants to make your name great, we must also cultivate it well. God wants us to walk with Him.

What kind of reputation do you have? Do you get angry or freak out at the slightest thing? Do you lose your temper easily? Is that your brand? Don't touch it, or you'll be in trouble, and you won't be able to handle the consequences. When people mention you, they put a finger to their lips and say, "Shhh..." Scary! People will say, "You can't be like this; you need to change." Is that a good reputation? No, it's not. That's why some people say that emotional intelligence is more important than intellectual intelligence.

So one must be careful in their interactions with others, manage their reactions, and not ruin their brand. For example, Coca-Cola has a senior brand manager whose job is to cultivate the brand well, even if it costs money. They can't let the brand become less valuable. If the brand becomes less valuable, they haven't done their job well. When the market assesses it, they'll say, "This brand is no good!" I'm not advertising for them, but that's really how it is.

Huawei is a brand. Do you remember it? I have used Huawei phones like the Mate 10, P20, and Mate 40, and they were all very good and smooth. What does it mean to be good? No lag, long battery life, no overheating, good network, and cold-resistant in winter. Think about it: I bought a phone from a certain brand, and it overheated when I made calls, burning my ear. The battery drained even when I wasn't using it. When I turned it on, the battery was dead. The phones I bought don't overheat, have long battery life, good signal, loud sound, and are very smooth. What am I saying? Building a brand.

Chinese Mingding Destiny is a brand, and we have put some effort into cultivating this brand. Although Abraham was a sojourner in that place, he cultivated his brand exceptionally well. So the locals had a very good impression of Abraham! They called him a great prince. Sarah lived to be 127 years old and then died. At this time, Isaac was 37 years old, and Abraham was 137 years old.

Why did the locals have such an impression of Abraham? Because he wasn't one way today and another way tomorrow. Abraham had consistency. What is a brand? It's when you buy a phone, and it works well! You buy another phone, and it works well! You buy another one, and it still works well. The worst thing is when the first one works well, but the second one is a dud. If you buy a branded bag, and the first one is very durable, but the second one breaks while you're walking down the street. A brand can't be like that; it will be ruined. A brand must be consistent, long-lasting, and stable.

If you want to do something well, to make a car run smoothly, to make a phone stable and smooth, it's not easy. If you want to cultivate yourself into a stable person, to manage yourself into a person with a brand, that's not easy either. So the devil wants to ruin your reputation, but God wants to make your name great. After listening to this, don't get anxious. With God's help, you can certainly become a great prince. Then the devil will have a hard time because it can't ruin you! If the devil can't ruin you, you will always have consistency.

Maintaining consistency is very important! Because you are not enthusiastic about God one moment and enthusiastic about the world the next. If you are like that, you might as well be a pendulum, swinging back and forth endlessly. Wouldn't that be troublesome? Don't let people think you are one way today and another way tomorrow. So maintaining consistent stability is very important. A person with demons cannot be stable; a person with the Spirit of God will definitely be more stable.

How can a person achieve consistent stability? What is the brand of Chinese Mingding Destiny? It's that it only counts if you do it. Just talking about it is useless! When we study the Bible in Chinese Mingding Destiny, what we learn can be applied. We don't study the Bible just to talk about history; our conduct must be consistent.

After Sarah died, did Abraham haggle over the price when buying a piece of land for a burial site? No. He just spent some extra money to buy a piece of land. I thought, if I were Abraham, what would I do? I would go for a ride, go out a ways, and find a deserted place where no one wanted the land, stake out a claim, and bury Sarah there, cheap! See how much effort this takes, spending over 400 shekels of silver. Do you know how much 400 shekels of silver is? 4.5 kilograms. If it were me, would they be able to get my money? So I have to learn from Abraham, learning to spend over 400 shekels of silver to buy a piece of land. If it were me, I would drive for more than an hour, find a deserted place, dig a hole, and bury her, perfect! Then if someone asks where Sarah's tomb is, I wouldn't know.

Don't ask me why Abraham didn't ride out to find a place. I don't know. Later, I thought that perhaps Abraham wanted to buy a place to leave as a memorial for his descendants. That place is still there today, the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where Sarah was buried. Now that land in Israel is extraordinary; the land there is very expensive.

Learning to Be a Great Prince

Abraham managed his brand very well. Abraham acted as a great prince, he had consistency, and his reputation was excellent. How did he learn to be a great prince? The most impressive thing about Abraham was how he viewed himself: I am a foreigner, I am a sojourner. People living in this world don't see themselves as foreigners or sojourners. If you don't see yourself as a sojourner in this world, it's very troublesome.

Why should you see yourself as a sojourner? If these few decades in the world are just a sojourn, your view of wealth will be different, and you will become more dignified. If you come to a place and think it's yours, but others don't recognize it as yours, wouldn't that be upsetting? So you must gradually understand that you are a foreigner, a sojourner, and that your home is not on this earth but in heaven.

Although I diligently manage my brand and reputation, I don't value these things; I don't live for these things, nor do I live for money. I live for God, and God can make me a wealthy person. Money is not important; God is important, and the brand is important. You must understand this concept. When Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer and rescued Lot, he didn't take a single penny or a shoelace. He was very impressive! He said, "Lest anyone should say, 'The king of Sodom made me rich,' that I became wealthy by taking advantage of others. That would be a bad reputation."

He acknowledged that he was a foreigner, a sojourner. He longed for a better homeland, and for the sake of that better homeland, he was a faithful and good servant on earth. In order to be an honorable and good servant in God's eyes on this earth, he managed himself well, so people saw that God was clearly with him. Have you seen God clearly with you? Look at the brothers and sisters around you. Is God clearly with them? If God is not clearly with you, what is in your mind? So people must know that they should see themselves as foreigners and sojourners in this world.

Don't walk around like a mafia boss, swaggering like a crab, not knowing that you are a foreigner, walking like a gorilla, without any manners, like a gangster. That's a bad reputation. Why was Abraham always like this? Because he considered himself a foreigner, a sojourner, and he always kept his tail between his legs. If someone glares at you, let them glare; if someone spits on you, let them spit. Why shouldn't they spit? I am just a foreigner, a sojourner, I am nothing, so it's normal for you to treat me this way. You should know that we are just drifting on this earth, and then it will be easy to handle.

Once a person learns to keep their tail between their legs, God will make them a great prince. That's the key. Once you think you are a dish, you're finished! Others don't see you as a dish, but you see yourself as a dish, and then you get angry, collapse, and feel bad! In the end, even growth becomes a constraint. Everyone should think about this.

I feel that I haven't learned enough from Abraham, but I am trying very hard to learn. If someone asks me, "How did you become like Abraham?" I would say, "By keeping my tail between my legs." I have always kept my tail between my legs. And another characteristic is that people say, "You can't do it." Yes, I can't. People also say, "You're terrible." Yes, I'm terrible. Is there a problem? No problem. As a result, in God's eyes and in people's eyes, I have become a great prince.

I don't know if people think I am honorable or great, but I don't think I am great. If I think I am very honorable and then can't handle any offense, that would be troublesome. One sister told another person, "This pastor is no good at this or that, and he often brags." When she came to me, she said, "Teacher, that person said this about you." I said, "Let her say it! What she said is the truth. Don't argue with her." Once, they asked me, "How should we minister to this person?" I said, "Tell her this: We don't think this pastor can solve your problem." They said, "Teacher, how can you say that about yourself?" I said, "Just say it, and nothing will happen." As a result, after they said it, nothing really happened.

If someone says, "You can't do it," and you say, "No, I can," and then you go to the ring, you'll become Ma Baoguo! Then you start running a Douyin account, and everyone starts laughing. If people say I can't do it, then I can't do it! I never argue with people. I can't do it, but my God definitely can. So brothers and sisters, you must begin to know that you are a foreigner, a sojourner, and don't think of yourself as a dish. It's okay if you don't think much of yourself, because then you can withstand offenses. Then you will become honorable in the eyes of others, which is great!

Do you know what I like most about learning to be a great prince? I like being in control of my own life, even in the midst of the world. If you are not in control of your own life, you cannot be a great prince. I think you should follow the rules of the world, but you must be in control of your own life. If you see yourself as a sojourner, a foreigner, then everything will be fine. If you have a bad reputation in the world, that would be a big problem. So you must follow the rules of the world! I tell you, if your attitude towards money is wrong in the world, everyone will know it, even the dogs, pigs, and monkeys on the street. So, if you're in the world, you must not love money. If you love money and even take advantage of your own subordinates, then your subordinates will want to kill you, and you won't be able to survive in the world.

Brothers and sisters, you must know that your attitude towards money can ruin your reputation or build it. Once, a woman's aunt was a preacher, and when her father had cancer, her aunt charged money for praying for her father. Because when she came among us, she asked me, "Do you charge money for praying for them?" So I knew about this. I thought it was a strange question. I said, "Do you think we are performing a ritual?" Why would she ask that? She said, "A preacher serves them, and they have to pay first." At the time, she didn't say it was her aunt, but I found it very interesting. So your attitude towards money can instantly pull an honorable person down to a lowly person, and it can turn a lowly person into an honorable person.

If you love God, you can become an honorable person; if you love money, you can become a lowly person. People are sojourners on earth, and they should know that one day they will leave this world. What do you need so much money for? What do you want to do with it? But your reputation can enter into eternity, so you must cultivate it well. We will all meet in eternity. If everyone is laughing at you for taking advantage of others in this world, I don't think you'll have anywhere to put your face. You'll be ashamed even in heaven, and you're already ashamed on earth. If you're embarrassed on earth, how much more in heaven?

Why do I say that everyone should learn to give? Because giving is honorable. Don't leave behind a bad reputation for being a cheapskate. If you're in the world of the church, it's quite interesting. When a pastor goes to preach at a church, the church has to pay him. There's also a rule that whatever offerings are collected on the day a pastor preaches, he gets to take it all. If he preaches all four Sundays in a month, then the church has no income for that month. What kind of rule is that? And it's quite interesting. There are also pastors who say during their sermons, "Whoever gives the little one a cup of water will not lose their reward." Then many red envelopes come. Someone said, "Pastor, this is for a cup of water." This world is really interesting! So, you must cultivate your reputation well. Our reputation can't stand being a cheapskate, but it can stand giving. That's why you can't love money.

Do you know how much four hundred shekels is? It's four thousand five hundred grams of silver, which is nine pounds of silver, or 4.5 kilograms. If you have 4.5 kilograms of silver, that was used as money in the Qing and Ming dynasties. In martial arts novels, it's one tael of silver, two taels of silver. So this 4.5 kilograms is one hundred taels of silver! One hundred taels of silver is still a lot of money today. You bought a cave for that much? That's expensive! When you talk to people, you have to learn the rules of this world. What are the rules of this world?

Then Abraham said to them, “If you are really willing to help me bury my dead, then listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar to sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me at its full price, so I can have my own burial place here among you.” Ephron was sitting there among the Hittites at the meeting place of the town, so he answered Abraham in front of all the others. “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in front of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead.” (Genesis 23:8-11)

Can you accept it at this time? You can't accept it. If you accept it, you haven't understood the rules of the world, and you'll be in big trouble. So people must understand that if they love money, they definitely won't understand. Those are the cliches of the world. What did Abraham do?

Then Abraham bowed low before the people of the land and said to them, “If you are really willing to help me bury my dead, then listen to me and ask Ephron son of Zohar to sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me at its full price, so I can have my own burial place here among you.” (Genesis 23:7-9)

Ephron said:

My lord, listen to me! What is 400 pieces of silver between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead.” (Genesis 23:15)

You see the price is out. If Ephron was serious, you could give Ephron four hundred shekels of silver, and he would not want it. But he took it on the spot. Abraham spent forty shekels of silver to buy the land. People sold it for four hundred shekels of silver and went home secretly happy. Actually, it wasn't worth that much money! At that time, one hundred taels of silver was worth a lot of money. In the Qing Dynasty, an official's monthly salary was only a few taels of silver, and one hundred taels of silver was two years' salary!

You have to pay four hundred shekels of silver. Can't you not buy it? But Abraham still gave it to him. Why? Because his reputation was worth more than four hundred shekels of silver. Everyone must know that Abraham was wealthy because of God. In God's eyes, four hundred shekels of silver is nothing. If people trust in God, they will not lack these four hundred shekels of silver. So everyone should see how Abraham did things. Although Abraham was at a disadvantage at that time, twenty taels of silver could feed a large family for a year. But Abraham's actions represented his inner state, and his inner state was a very honorable state.

I am not teaching everyone to willingly suffer losses, but I am teaching everyone to learn to be honorable. If you can't stand it, don't force yourself. After paying four hundred shekels, you meet Ephron and give him a black face, cursing and saying, "I was cheated! You charged me one hundred taels of silver for a piece of land worth twenty taels, five times more than it's worth." Then you look at Ephron and say, "Tch! You little brat." Wouldn't that be troublesome? You'd feel bad. But the problem is that an honorable person learns to be a great prince, and he knows what it means to invest in eternity.

That land still belongs to Abraham to this day. Abraham bought it more than four thousand years ago. What is that four hundred taels of silver worth after four thousand years? It's worth nothing. But I tell you that the land bought for four hundred shekels of silver is still known and remembered to us in that place to this day. It has given us a proof, letting us know that this matter has been recorded in eternity. You are a great prince, God is your king, and you have plenty of money at home. Do you need to be so nervous? I'm just afraid you're not.

So Abraham became the owner of the field and of the cave that was in it. The Hittites agreed that it would be his property as a burial place. (Genesis 23:20)

The Key Is How Others See You

Learning to be a person, learning to do things, is not about how you see yourself, but about how others see you. You should see yourself as keeping your tail between your legs, but if you see yourself as very honorable, then you are not wise. If you think you are very honorable, but others don't think you are honorable, then you are messed up. Being messed up means everything is turned upside down and confused. When I say you have to learn to be honorable, you think you are honorable, but everyone thinks you are disgusting. So we must listen to other people's opinions.

You should often listen to how others see you. If you don't know how others see you, that's a bit of a tragedy. Sometimes when I minister to people who are close to me, I tell them directly, "Sister, you're quite foolish!" She would reply, "Ah! How can you say I'm foolish?" You can't say that I'm not qualified to see you that way. I am qualified to see you that way, and I am willing to share it with you. If you want to listen, listen; if you don't want to listen, that's fine. Why? I'm not just saying you're foolish and leaving it at that. I hope you can become a smart person.

If a person is foolish and thinks they are smart, that is truly a tragedy within a tragedy. So in your interactions with others, often listen to other people's opinions and often understand how others see us. When people look down on us, we compete with them, get angry, and feel bad. What are we doing? I don't understand it very well, and I still don't understand it to this day. You have to get entangled in useless entanglements, and you have to find things to ruin yourself. This is something that confuses me very much.

If people say you are stingy, you have to be very careful. If people say you are very stingy, you say, "I'm not stingy! I met a beggar the other day, and I gave him ten dollars!" That doesn't mean you're not stingy; that's just stupid. If people tell you, "You are a stingy person," you say, "Oh, I'm stingy? Then I have to be careful." Like Ephron the Hittite, did he just open his mouth and ask Abraham for four hundred shekels of silver randomly? He knew Abraham's background very well.

You have to know how people see you, that people think you are extremely wealthy, that people think you are very honorable, that people think you are a great prince, that you have plenty of money at home. Then they will say to you, "Four hundred shekels." If you are a pauper, this deal would be twenty shekels, just enough to cover the costs. Abraham is an honorable prince, the son of God, so this is called a protocol, an agreement. You have to know what people are saying, you have to know how people see you, you have to know what your evaluation is. This is very important.

We must be careful that Abraham is not in this situation: "Oh, I've seen through it all! Oh, money is not important!" If money is not important, why would he want those four hundred shekels? That's not how it works. So brothers and sisters, don't put "seeing through it all" on other people's heads. Let's start learning to see through it ourselves.
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The More You See Through, the More Noble You Become

If you do not see through the matter of living, you cannot be a noble person. What exactly is money? What can money buy? You must understand. Is God really real? What exactly is God all about? How can one please God? If you understand and see through these matters, then you should diligently manage your affairs in the eternal world. Everyone is gradually beginning to understand that what we do will be recorded in eternity, and it will all be brought up and discussed in the future. The 《Bible》 says this: what people think in their hearts cannot be hidden from God.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. (《Luke》 8:17)

What exactly are you thinking in your heart? If people are thinking only of this life, it is difficult for you to be noble. Pigs think that way too, and so do dogs. Then aren't you just like a pig or a dog? If your thoughts are similar to those of pigs and dogs, then that is troublesome, too low. Fighting to the death over a bone. If people cannot see through things in this world, that is truly tragic.

Summary

Moses wrote this chapter hoping that Abraham's descendants, the Israelites, after entering the wilderness, would learn to be like Abraham, because you are Abraham's descendants. You must learn to be a noble person, so that neighbours do not fight each other incessantly. If you shovel the snow, why not shovel your neighbour's snow as well? Isn't that the end of it? Instead of thinking about sweeping a little over there, sweeping a little over here, and wanting to settle accounts with your neighbour. These two petty people, arguing and fighting over it, just because of shovelling snow. If people's minds do not see through the matter of living, that is truly deadly.

Brothers and sisters, you can feel it: if you see living as vanity of vanities, would you be anxious? Let me share with you my own growth: there was a time when I almost kicked the bucket, because I contracted the Delta variant of COVID-19, and I had difficulty breathing, it was very difficult. As a result, I recovered from the illness and did not die. In that state of being on the verge of death from COVID, I suddenly saw through many things. I also thank God, in the process of being between life and death, I suddenly realised that many things became meaningless. After recovering, I realised: do more if you want to, don't do more if you don't want to, that's it, and after so many years, nothing has happened. Do well if you want to, don't do it if you don't want to, it doesn't matter. Do whatever you want to do. You will find that I basically do not create pressure for my employees. But I always encourage everyone to be a smart person.

Once you see through it, you will really know that nothing will happen because you did a little more or a little less. I tell you that it is God who makes us rich, we are God's noble princes, and there is everything in God's house. The problem is that many people work desperately! And then ask me: Teacher, why am I still not blessed? I see that you are still separated from being blessed by a chasm, you are on the other side of the chasm. Why? You take what you do too seriously in your mind, but it is not that important.

You say you cannot see through it, but one day you may experience what I experienced, and perhaps you will be able to see through it. But I hope that when you experience what I experienced, you do not run past it, and go too far. If you go too far, you cannot come back, then seeing through it is useless. I am very moved, people must learn to be a noble prince in their lifetime. If we have the money, we will buy this cave, if we don't have the money, then forget it, and there is no need to be so纠结 about money.

In short, what I am saying is to let everyone understand how Abraham was a noble prince, and then we will start learning. You learn, and I learn, this lesson will never be finished in a lifetime. May God bless everyone!

《Genesis》 Chapter 23 Scripture

23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. These were the years of Sarah’s life.
23:2 Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
23:3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said,
23:4 “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.”
23:5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,
23:6 “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
23:7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
23:8 He said to them, “If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
23:9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me at the full price as a burial site among you.”
23:10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
23:11 “No, my lord,” he said. “Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
23:12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
23:13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, “Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there.”
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham,
23:15 “My lord, listen to me; what is four hundred shekels of silver between you and me? Bury your dead.”
23:16 Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
23:17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded
23:18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of the Hittites, before all who had come to the gate of the city.
23:19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
23:20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.