Jacob’s Burial
1Joseph threw himself on his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him. 2Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3It took forty days, for that is how long it takes to embalm a body, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 4When the days of mourning for him had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please take this message to Pharaoh: 5‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, “I am about to die — bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now, please let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’” 6“Go and bury your father,” Pharaoh said, “as he made you promise to do.” 7So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials went with him — the elders of his court and all the elders of Egypt — 8as did all of Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left behind in Goshen. 9Chariots and horsemen also went up with him, and it was a very large company. 10When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly there, and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11When the Canaanites living there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why the place near the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim. 12So Jacob’s sons did for him just as he had instructed them. 13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, the field Abraham had bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. 14After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
Joseph Reassures His Brothers
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph still holds a grudge against us, and pays us back in full for all the wrong we did to him?” 16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers’ offense and their sin, for the wrong they did to you.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of your father’s God.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 18His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 19But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done — the saving of many lives. 21So then, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
The Death of Joseph
22Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with his father’s whole household, and he lived a hundred and ten years. 23He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation, and the children of Machir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. 24Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, saying, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” 26So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
