King
James Version
Book of Genesis
Chapter 50 1-14
Death of Jacob and elaborate funeral by Joseph and his brothers
and Pharaoh's men.
Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him.
Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father
Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for
that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned
for him seventy days.
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court,
"If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell
him, 'My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to
die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land
of Canaan." Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"
Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear
to do."
So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied
him---the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt---besides
all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging
to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and
herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him.
It was a very large company.
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they
lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day
period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there
saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "The
Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning." That is why
that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.
So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them: They carried him to the
land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,
near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial place from Ephron the
Hittite, along with the field. After burying his father, Joseph returned
to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone
with him to bury his father.
Back
to top |