Mourning and Burial for Jacob
1. Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.
2. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3. Forty days were required for this, the full period of embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
4. When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please say to Pharaoh,
5. ‘My father made me swear an oath, saying, “I am about to die; you must bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”
6. So Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
Joseph’s Oath to His Brothers
7. And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8. along with all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.
9. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him—it was a very large company.
10. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
11. And when the Canaanites saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name is called Abel-mizraim, which is across the Jordan.
12. So Jacob’s sons did for him just as he had commanded them.
13. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14. After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
Joseph Comforts His Brothers
15. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? What if he pays us back in full for all the evil that we did to him?”
16. So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded,
17. ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”
When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18. His brothers also came and fell down before him. “Behold,” they said, “we are your slaves!”
19. But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
20. As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
21. Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.
The Death of Joseph
22. Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived 110 years.
23. He lived to see Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were born on Joseph’s knees.
24. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
25. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely visit you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
26. So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.