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¹ Joseph fell on his father ’ s face and he cried over him and kissed him . ² Joseph commanded his servants who prepared the dead for burial to embalm his father ’ s body . ³ It took forty days to embalm Jacob ’ s body , because that is the amount of time that was always required for them to embalm a body . The people of Egypt cried for seventy days because of Jacob ’ s death . ⁴ When the time of mourning was finished , Joseph said to the king ’ s officials , “ If you are pleased with me , please take this message to the king : ⁵ ‘ When my father was about to die , he told me to solemnly promise that I would bury his body in Canaan land , in the tomb that he himself had prepared . So please let me go up to Canaan and bury my father ’ s body . Then I will return .’”

⁶ After they gave the king the message , he replied , “ Tell Joseph , ‘ Go up and bury your father ’ s body , as you swore that you would do .’” ⁷ So Joseph went up to Canaan to bury his father ’ s body . All of the king ’ s officials , all the king ’ s advisors , and all the elders in Egypt went with him . ⁸ His family ’ s small children and their sheep and goats and their cattle stayed in the region of Goshen . But all the rest of Joseph ’ s family and his brothers and his father ’ s family went with him . ⁹ Men riding in chariots and on horses also went along . It was a huge group .

¹⁰ They went to the east side of the Jordan River and arrived at Atad . There was a place there where people threshed the grain to separate the wheat from the chaff . There they mourned loudly for Jacob for a long time . Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for his father for seven days . ¹¹ When the Canaan people group who lived there saw them mourning like that , they said , “ This is a sad mourning place for the people of Egypt !” So they named the place Abel Mizraim , which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean “ mourning of the Egyptians .”

¹² Then Jacob ’ s sons did for him what their father had commanded . ¹³ They crossed the Jordan River and carried Jacob ’ s body into Canaan land . They buried it in the cave in the field at Machpelah , east of Mamre town . That was the field that Abraham had bought from Ephron , who was one of the Heth people group , to use as a burial place .

¹⁴ After he had buried his father , Joseph and his brothers and all the others who had gone up to Canaan with him for the funeral returned to Egypt .

¹⁵ After Jacob died , Joseph ’ s brothers became worried . They realized what might happen . They said , “ What will happen if Joseph is carrying hatred for us and wants to take revenge on us , because of all the evil things we did to him many years ago ?” ¹⁶ So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them : “ Before our father died , he told us this : ¹⁷ ‘ Say to Joseph , Please forgive your older brothers for the evil thing that they did to you , for their terrible sin against you , because what they did to you was very wrong .’ So now we , who are servants of your father ’ s God , ask you , please forgive us for what we did to you .” Joseph cried when he received their message . ¹⁸ Then his older brothers themselves came and threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph , and one of them said , “ Please listen . We will be your servants .” ¹⁹ But Joseph replied to them , “ Do not be afraid ! God is the one who punishes people ; am I God ? ²⁰ As for you , yes , you wanted to do something very evil to me . But God caused something good to come from it ! He wanted to save many people from dying of hunger , and that is what happened ! Today they are alive ! ²¹ So I say again , do not be afraid ! I will make sure that you and your children have enough to eat .” In this way he reassured them as he spoke to them .

²² Joseph lived with his father ’ s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old . ²³ He lived long enough to see Ephraim ’ s children and grandchildren . The children of Joseph ’ s grandson Machir , who was Manasseh ’ s son , were born before Joseph died , and they were recognized as being his descendants . ²⁴ One day Joseph said to his older brothers , “ I am about to die . But God will certainly help you . Some day he will lead your descendants up out of this land and take them to Canaan , the land that he solemnly promised to give to Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob .” ²⁵ Then Joseph said , “ When God enables you to do that , you must take my body up from here to Canaan .” He made his older brothers solemnly promise to do that .

²⁶ So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old . His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there .