Genesis 23:1-20

(1)  Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

(2)  And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

(3)  And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,

(4)  "I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

(5)  The Hittites answered Abraham,

(6)  "Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead."

(7)  Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land.

(8)  And he said to them, "If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,

(9)  that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place."

(10)  Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city,

(11)  "No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."

(12)  Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.

(13)  And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, "But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there."

(14)  Ephron answered Abraham,

(15)  "My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead."

(16)  Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

(17)  So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over

(18)  to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

(19)  After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

(20)  The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

2 Corinthians 2:1-17

(1)  For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.

(2)  For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

(3)  And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.

(4)  For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

(5)  Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure--not to put it too severely--to all of you.

(6)  For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough,

(7)  so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

(8)  So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

(9)  For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.

(10)  Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

(11)  so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

(12)  When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,

(13)  my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

(14)  But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

(15)  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

(16)  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

(17)  For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

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