Genesis 50:1

Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.

Genesis 50:2

Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father's body; so Jacob was embalmed.

Genesis 50:3

The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.

Genesis 50:4

When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh's advisers and said, "Please do me this favor and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf.

Genesis 50:5

Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, 'Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.' So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay."

Genesis 50:6

Pharaoh agreed to Joseph's request. "Go and bury your father, as he made you promise," he said.

Genesis 50:7

So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh's officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh's household, and all the senior officers of Egypt.

Genesis 50:8

Joseph also took his entire household and his brothers and their households. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.

Genesis 50:9

A great number of chariots and charioteers accompanied Joseph.

Genesis 50:10

When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph's father.

Genesis 50:11

The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim, for they said, "This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians."

Genesis 50:12

So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them.

Genesis 50:13

They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

Genesis 50:14

After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father's burial.

Genesis 50:15

But now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became fearful. "Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him," they said.

Genesis 50:16

So they sent this message to Joseph: "Before your father died, he instructed us

Genesis 50:17

to say to you: 'Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you-- for their sin in treating you so cruelly.' So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin." When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept.

Genesis 50:18

Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. "Look, we are your slaves!" they said.

Genesis 50:19

But Joseph replied, "Don't be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?

Genesis 50:20

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

Genesis 50:21

No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children." So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

Genesis 50:22

So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110.

Genesis 50:23

He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh's son Makir, whom he claimed as his own.

Genesis 50:24

"Soon I will die," Joseph told his brothers, "but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

Genesis 50:25

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, "When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you."

Genesis 50:26

So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.