| New American Standard Bible | ►► |
Jacob Is Buried
1Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him.
2Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3Now forty days were [a]required for [b]it, for [c]such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4When the days of [d]mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak [e]to Pharaoh, saying,
5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now then, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’”
6Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen.
9Chariots with teams of horses also went up with him; and it was a very great company.
10When they came to the [f]threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they mourned there with a very great and [g]sorrowful lamentation; and he [h]observed seven days of mourning for his father.
11Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at [i]the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a [j]grievous [k]mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named [l]Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
Burial at Machpelah
12And so his sons did for him as he had commanded them;
13for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah opposite Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a [m]burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15When Joseph’s brothers had seen that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”
16So they sent instructions to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded us before he died, saying,
17‘This is what you shall say to Joseph: “Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”