Genesis 50

¹Genesis 50:1. Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.²Genesis 50:2. And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,³Genesis 50:3. taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.⁴Genesis 50:4. When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that⁵Genesis 50:5. my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”⁶Genesis 50:6. Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷Genesis 50:7. Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt—⁸Genesis 50:8. along with all of Joseph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.⁹Genesis 50:9. Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession.¹⁰Genesis 50:10. 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.¹¹Genesis 50:11. When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.¹²Genesis 50:12. So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them.¹³Genesis 50:13. 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 from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.¹⁴Genesis 50:14. After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

¹⁵Genesis 50:15. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”¹⁶Genesis 50:16. So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded,¹⁷Genesis 50:17. ‘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, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.¹⁸Genesis 50:18. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”¹⁹Genesis 50:19. But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?²⁰Genesis 50:20. 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.²¹Genesis 50:21. Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.

²²Genesis 50:22. Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110.²³Genesis 50:23. He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.²⁴Genesis 50:24. 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.”²⁵Genesis 50:25. And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”²⁶Genesis 50:26. So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.