¹ And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

² And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

³ And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

⁴ Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

⁵ Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

⁶ And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

⁷ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

⁸ Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

⁹ Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

¹⁰ And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

¹¹ And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rook twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

¹³ This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

¹⁴ In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

¹⁵ In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

¹⁶ And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

¹⁷ And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

¹⁸ And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

¹⁹ And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

²⁰ But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

²¹ Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

²² And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

²³ Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁴ Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

²⁵ Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

²⁶ And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

²⁸ And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them.

²⁹ And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

³⁰ And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

¹ Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. This was the length of Sarah's life.

² Sarah died in Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

³ Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the children of Heth, saying,

⁴ "I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

⁵ The children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

⁶ "Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the best of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb. Bury your dead."

⁷ Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

⁸ He talked with them, saying, "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

⁹ that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me among you for a possession of a burying-place."

¹⁰ Now Ephron was sitting in the middle of the children of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,

¹¹ "No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the presence of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."

¹² Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land.

¹³ He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, "But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there."

¹⁴ Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

¹⁵ "My lord, listen to me. What is a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver between me and you? Therefore bury your dead."

¹⁶ Abraham listened to Ephron. Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the current merchants' standard.

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all of its borders, were deeded

¹⁸ to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, 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 before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan.

²⁰ The field, and the cave that is in it, were deeded to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the children of Heth.