Mourning and Burial for Jacob 1And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel. 3And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 4And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I die; in my grave which I have dug myself in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. And now, let me go up, I pray thee, that I may bury my father; and I will come again. 6And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the bondmen of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and the camp was very great. 10And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan; and there they lamented with a great and very grievous lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father of seven days. 11And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, and they said, This is a grievous mourning of the Egyptians. Therefore the name of it was called Abel-Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12And his sons did to him according as he had commanded them; 13and his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah which Abraham had bought along with the field, for a possession of a sepulchre, of Ephron the Hittite, opposite to Mamre. 14And, after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that had gone up with him to bury his father. Joseph Comforts his Brothers 15And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, If now Joseph should be hostile to us, and should indeed requite us all the evil that we did to him! 16And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Thy father commanded before he died, saying, 17Thus shall ye speak to Joseph: Oh forgive, I pray thee, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin! for they did evil to thee. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and said, Behold, we are thy bondmen. 19And Joseph said to them, Fear not: am I then in the place of God? 20Ye indeed meant evil against me: God meant it for good, in order that he might do as [it is] this day, to save a great people alive. 21And now, fear not: I will maintain you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke consolingly to them. The Death of Joseph 22And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. 23And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third [generation]; the sons also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph's knees. 24And Joseph said to his brethren, I die; and God will certainly visit you, and bring you up out of this land, into the land that he swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will certainly visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones hence. 26And Joseph died, a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him; and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. |