Genesis 50
Joseph flung himself onto his father’s face, wept over him and then kissed him as well.
Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel.
They embalmed him. It took forty days for him, the full timespan that embalming requires.
And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. Now when the days of weeping expired,
Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh and said, “Pray, if I’ve found favor in your eyes,
Speak in Pharaoh’s ears, saying, ‘My father made me swear an oath to him before he died.
He said, “Look, I am dying. In my burial site I dug for myself long ago
In the land of Canaan, there you must bury me.” So pray, now grant me your leave to go,
And to bury my father there, and return.’” Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father,
As he had you swear, since you have made an oath.” So Joseph went up to bury his father,
And with him went up all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household and all Egypt,
All of Joseph’s household, all his brothers and father’s household, they all went on the trip.
Only their little-ones, their sheep and their oxen did they leave in the land of Goshen.
And along with him also went chariots and horsemen. His troop was heavy with men.
When they came to Goren Ha-Atad (“Bramble Threshing Floor”) in the land beyond the Jordan,
They took up a lament, an exceedingly heavy lament (for sorrow is important).
He held seven days mourning for his father. When the Canaanite inhabitants saw
All the mourning at Goren Ha-Atad, the Canaanites stared and were stricken with awe.
They said, “This is such mourning for Egypt.” So “Mourning-Meadow of Egypt” it was branded,
(Or “Abel-Mizraim”), beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did as their father commanded.
They all carried him back to the land of Canaan, buried him in a cave in the field
Of Machpelah, the burial-site which Abraham got Ephron the Hittite to yield,
Facing Mamre. Then Joseph returned to Egypt, he, his brothers, and all of the herd
Who had gone up with Joseph to bury his father, after his father was interred.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge,
And decides to repay us for all of the ill that we caused him, serving as our judge?”
So they sent Joseph a message which said, “Before he died, your father commanded us,
‘Say this to Joseph, “Pray, forgive your brothers’ sin and offense, harm caused by animus.”’
Pray forgive the offense of the servants of your father’s God!” Joseph wept as they spoke.
Then his brothers came, flung themselves down before him, and said, “Here we are, slaves to your yoke.”
But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. For am I to be your judge in God’s place?
Though you planned harm against me, God planned it for good, to bring this day about in his grace–
So that many will be kept alive. So now, don’t be afraid. I myself will provide
For both you and your children.” And he gave them comfort, and spoke to them kindly besides.
So Joseph stayed in Egypt, with his father’s household. He lived to one hundred and ten.
Joseph lived long enough to see Ephraim’s grandchildren of the third generation,
And also the sons of Machir, son of Manasseh, were adopted on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will take notice of you, surely,
And bring you up from this land to the land which he promised in an oath to Abraham,
To Isaac, and to Jacob.” Joseph had the sons of Israel swear an oath to him,
Saying, “Once God takes notice of you, you must bring my bones up from here.” And Joseph died,
At one hundred and ten. They embalmed him, put him in a coffin in Egypt to bide.