Sarah's Resting Place
Sarah dies at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven in Kiryat Arba, which is Chevron (Hebron), and Avraham comes to mourn and to weep for her. Needing a place to bury her, he approaches the Hittites, the people of the land, and asks to purchase a burial site among them. He sets his heart on the Cave of Machpelah, owned by a man named Ephron, and insists on paying its full price rather than accepting it as a gift. Before witnesses he weighs out four hundred silver shekels, and the field and its cave pass to Avraham as a permanent possession, where he buries Sarah.
The Servant's Mission
Avraham, now old and blessed in all things, calls his trusted servant and makes him swear a solemn oath. The servant must not take a wife for Yitzchak from among the Canaanites but must travel to Avraham's homeland and family to find her. Trusting that God will send an angel before him to make the way succeed, the servant sets out with ten camels and many gifts. Arriving at the city of Nachor in Aram, he stops at the well outside the city as evening falls and the women come out to draw water.
Kindness at the Well
The servant prays for a sign: the young woman who offers water not only to him but also to his camels will be the one God has chosen for Yitzchak. Before he even finishes praying, Rivkah appears, draws water for him, and then keeps drawing until all ten thirsty camels have drunk their fill. Amazed, the servant learns that she is the granddaughter of Avraham's own brother, exactly the family he was sent to find. He gives her a golden ring and bracelets and bows low in gratitude, knowing that God has led him straight to the right home.
Rivkah Chooses to Go
Welcomed into the household, the servant refuses to eat until he has told his whole story, describing Avraham's wealth, the oath, his prayer at the well, and how Rivkah answered it perfectly. Her brother Lavan (Laban) and her father acknowledge that the matter has clearly come from God and give their consent for her to marry Yitzchak. When asked, Rivkah herself agrees to go at once, and she departs with the servant, blessed by her family. As they arrive, Yitzchak is meditating in the field at evening, and he brings Rivkah into his mother's tent, marries her, loves her, and is comforted after Sarah's death.
Avraham's Legacy
In his final years Avraham takes another wife, Keturah, who bears him more sons, and he sends them eastward with gifts while leaving all that he has to Yitzchak. Avraham dies at the age of one hundred and seventy-five, old and satisfied with life, and his sons Yitzchak and Yishmael (Ishmael) come together to bury him beside Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah. God blesses Yitzchak after his father's death. The parsha closes by listing the descendants of Yishmael, the twelve princes born from him, before he too dies and his line settles across the region.