Genesis 50

Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.^o Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,^p taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.^q

When the days of mourning^r had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court,^s “If I have found favor in your eyes,^t speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ‘My father made me swear an oath^u and said, “I am about to die;^v bury me in the tomb I dug for myself^w in the land of Canaan.”^x Now let me go up and bury my father;^y then I will return.’ ”

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

So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials^z accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court^a and all the dignitaries of Egypt— besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household.^b Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.^c Chariots^d and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.

When they reached the threshing floor^e of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly;^f and there Joseph observed a seven-day period^g of mourning^h for his father.ⁱ When the Canaanites^j who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”^k That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.

So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:^l They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,^m near Mamre,ⁿ which Abraham had bought along with the field^o as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.^p 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.^q

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge^a against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”^b So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions^c before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins^d and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’^e Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.^f” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.^g

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

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?^j You intended to harm me,^k but God intended^l it for good^m to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.ⁿ So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.^o” And he reassured them and spoke kindly^p to them.

The Death of Joseph

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

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

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