1 And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh on my behalf, saying,
5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, ‘Soon I shall die; in the grave which I [a]have dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now please let me go and bury my father, and I will return here again.’
6 And Pharaoh said, ‘Go and bury your father, according to your word.’
7 And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, ‘This is a grievous [b]mourning to the Egyptians;’ wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph hates us, and will only now require from us punishment for all the evil which we did unto him.”
16 And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17 ‘So shall ye say unto Joseph, ‘Forgive, I pray you now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for the evils which they have done to you.’ And now, we pray you, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.’
18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 And Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? (That I would punish you?)
20 Although you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many lives.
21 Therefore do not fear; I will nourish you, and your little ones.” And he comforted them, and spoke [c]kindly to them.
22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph’s knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, “I will die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from this place.’
26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
[5] Or, bought
[11] Hebrew ebel.
[21] Hebrew to their heart.
[21] This shows a striking difference in theology between the Bible and the New Testament. In the New Testament, Judas is punished for selling his brother into slavery; in the Bible, the brothers are forgiven because it was according to God’s plan. It is striking that the last comment in Genesis be such a striking difference in theology, underlining and underscoring a long list of such differences. ‘Shall not God’s plan be fair, and man’s plan be unfair?’ How true these statements are as they have shown themselves to be!