Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there,

"Listen, sir; I will give you the whole field and the cave that is in it. Here in the presence of my own people, I will give it to you, so that you can bury your wife."

That is how the property which had belonged to Ephron at Machpelah east of Mamre, became Abraham's. It included the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees in the field up to the edge of the property.

"Give me the offerings from your grain, your wine, and your olive oil when they are due. "Give me your first-born sons.

"For six years plant your land and gather in what it produces.

But in the seventh year let it rest, and do not harvest anything that grows on it. The poor may eat what grows there, and the wild animals can have what is left. Do the same with your vineyards and your olive trees.

"Each year bring to the house of the LORD your God the first grain that you harvest. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.

When you bake bread, the first loaf of the first bread made from the new grain is to be presented as a special contribution to the LORD. This is to be presented in the same way as the special contribution you make from the grain you thresh.

So now I bring to the LORD the first part of the harvest that he has given me.' "Then set the basket down in the LORD's presence and worship there.

As soon as the order was given, the people of Israel brought gifts of their finest grain, wine, olive oil, honey, and other farm produce, and they also brought the tithes of everything they had.

But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

They are the men who have kept themselves pure by not having sexual relations with women; they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from the rest of the human race and are the first ones to be offered to God and to the Lamb.