The Mekhilta teaches that there are people in the Torah whose very names were diminished — literally shrunk — because of their actions. The prime example is Efron the Hittite, the man who sold the Cave of Machpelah to Abraham.
In the beginning of the negotiation over the burial site for Sarah, Efron's name is spelled in full — with the letter vav, written as "Efron" (עֶפְרוֹן). He presented himself as generous, even magnanimous, publicly declaring that he would give Abraham the field and its cave as a gift, free of charge, in the presence of all the elders at the city gate.
But then the money changed hands. When Abraham insisted on paying full price and weighed out four hundred silver shekels — an enormous sum — Efron took every coin without hesitation. And at precisely that moment, as recorded in (Genesis 23:16), the Torah spells his name differently. "And Abraham hearkened to Efron" — now written without the vav, as "Efron" (עֶפְרֹן). A letter had been dropped from his name.
This is not a scribal accident. The rabbis understood it as a deliberate divine commentary embedded in the text itself. Efron's grand public show of generosity was exposed as hollow the moment he eagerly pocketed Abraham's silver. His character shrank, and so did his name. The Torah literally spelled out his moral diminishment, letter by letter, for all future generations to read and understand: those who promise generously but act greedily lose something essential about who they are.