Genesis 50

50Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.^{i 2}Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,^{j 3}taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.^k

⁴When the days of mourning^l had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court,^m “If I have found favor in your eyes,ⁿ speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ⁵‘My father made me swear an oath^o and said, “I am about to die;^p bury me in the tomb I dug for myself^q in the land of Canaan.”^r Now let me go up and bury my father;^s then I will return.’ ”

⁶Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials^t accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court^u and all the dignitaries of Egypt—⁸besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household.^v Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.^{w 9}Chariots^x and horsemen^a also went up with him. It was a very large company.

¹⁰When they reached the threshing floor^y of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly;^z and there Joseph observed a seven-day period^a of mourning^b for his father.^{c 11}When the Canaanites^d who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”^e That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.^b

¹²So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:^{f 13}They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,^g near Mamre,^h which Abraham had bought along with the fieldⁱ as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.^{j 14}After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.^k

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge^l against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”^{m 16}So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructionsⁿ before he died: ¹⁷‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins^o and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’^p Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.^q” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.^r

¹⁸His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.^s “We are your slaves,”^t they said.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?^{u 20}You intended to harm me,^v but God intended^w it for good^x to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.^{y 21}So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.^z” And he reassured them and spoke kindly^a to them.

The Death of Joseph

²²Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years^{b 23}and saw the third generation^c of Ephraim’s^d children.^e Also the children of Makir^f son of Manasseh^g were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.^ch

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die.ⁱ But God will surely come to your aid^j and take you up out of this land to the land^k he promised on oath to Abraham,^l Isaac^m and Jacob.”^{n 25}And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath^o and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones^p up from this place.”^q

²⁶So Joseph died^r at the age of a hundred and ten.^s And after they embalmed him,^t he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.