50 1 Joseph bent over his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph ordered the physicians who served him to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 When the days of mourning were over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's household, saying, "If I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh, saying, 5 'My father made me swear, saying, "I am about to die. In the tomb I carved out for myself in the land of Canaan, bury me there." So please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return.'"
6 And Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear."
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all of Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 Chariots also and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and bitter lamentation, and Joseph held seven days of mourning for his father. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a bitter mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. a a v11 Abel-mizraim means "mourning of Egypt" — the Canaanites named the place for the great lamentation they witnessed there. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, the field that Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre. 14 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.
The Brothers' Old Fear
15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him." 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died: 17 'Say this to Joseph: Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Father of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Look, we are your servants." 19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid, for am I in the place of our Father? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but our Father meant it for good, to save the lives of many people, as they are today. b b v20 Joseph names our Father as the redeemer who took his brothers' evil and wove it into the saving of many lives. 21 So don't be afraid; I will provide for you and your children." So he comforted them and spoke to their hearts.
Joseph's Last Years
22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's family. And Joseph lived 110 years. 23 Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph's knees. c c v23 Placing a newborn on a patriarch's knees was an ancient gesture of adoption and belonging — Joseph was formally claiming these children as his own. 24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but our Father will surely come to help you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." d d v24 Joseph's dying words look forward to the Exodus — our Father does not leave his children in slavery; he comes to bring them home. 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "Our Father will surely come to help you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." 26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.