Pentateuch n. 50

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50. GENESIS

Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept over 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 taken over this, for such a time is needed for embalming; and the Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were over, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, and said, If now I have found favour in your eyes, please speak in Pharaoh's ears, and say, 5 My father made me swear, when he said, See, I am about to die; you shall bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let me go and bury my father; then I will return. 6 And Pharaoh said, Go and bury your father, as he made you swear. 7 So Joseph went to bury his father, and with him went all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all Joseph's household, and his brothers, and his father's household; only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company. 10 And when they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they made a very great and grievous lamentation there; and he mourned for his father for seven days. 11 And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, and they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians; therefore it was named Abel-mizraim,* which is across the Jordan. 12 So 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 in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, to possess as a sepulchre, from Ephron the Hittite, to the east of Mamre. 14 Then after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who went with him to bury his father. * That is The mourning for Egypt

15 Then when Joseph's brothers saw that their father had died, they said, It may be that Joseph will he hostile towards us, and will pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. 16 And they spoke to Joseph, and said, Your father gave a command before he died, and said, 17 You shall say this to Joseph, Please now forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for the evil which they did to you. So now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father's God. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 And his brothers also went and fell down before him, and said, See, we are your servants. 19 And Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 Although you intended evil against me, God intended it for good, to bring it about as it is today, enabling a great people to live. 21 Therefore, do not be afraid; I will nourish you and your children. And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

22 So Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father's household; and Joseph lived for a hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's sons of the third generation; also the Sons of Makhir, Manasseh's son, were born on Joseph's knees. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die; but God will certainly visit you, and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 And Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, and said, God will certainly visit you, and you shall carry my bones from this place. 26 Then Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.


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