Genèse (NAB) 43
43 1 Now the famine in the land grew more severe. 2 So when they had used up all the rations they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and procure us a little more food."3 But Judah replied: "The man strictly warned us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'4 If you are willing to let our brother go with us, we will go down to procure food for you.5 But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, 'You shall not appear in my presence unless your brother is with you.'"6 Israel demanded, "Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?"7 They answered: "The man kept asking about ourselves and our family: 'Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"8 Then Judah urged his father Israel: "Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.9 I myself will stand surety for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back, to set him in your presence, you can hold it against me forever.10 Had we not dilly-dallied, we could have been there and back twice by now!"
11 Their father Israel then told them: "If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land's best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.12 Also take extra money along, for you must return the amount that was put back in the mouths of your bags; it may have been a mistake.13 Take your brother, too, and be off on your way back to the man.14 May God Almighty dispose the man to be merciful toward you, so that he may let your other brother go, as well as Benjamin. As for me, if I am to suffer bereavement, I shall suffer it."
15 So the men got the gifts, took double the amount of money with them, and, accompanied by Benjamin, were off on their way down to Egypt to present themselves to Joseph.16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his head steward, "Take these men into the house, and have an animal slaughtered and prepared, for they are to dine with me at noon."17 Doing as Joseph had ordered, the steward conducted the men to Joseph's house.
18 But on being led to his house, they became apprehensive. "It must be," they thought, "on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside; they want to use it as a pretext to attack us and take our donkeys and seize us as slaves."19 So they went up to Joseph's head steward and talked to him at the entrance of the house.20 "If you please, sir," they said, "we came down here once before to procure food.21 But when we arrived at a night's encampment and opened our bags, there was each man's money in the mouth of his bag-- our money in the full amount! We have now brought it back.22 We have brought other money to procure food with. We do not know who put the first money in our bags."23 "Be at ease," he replied; "you have no need to fear. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasures in your bags for you. As for your money, I received it." With that, he led Simeon out to them.
24 The steward then brought the men inside Joseph's house. He gave them water to bathe their feet, and got fodder for their donkeys.25 Then they set out their gifts to await Joseph's arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to dine there.26 When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, while they bowed down before him to the ground.27 After inquiring how they were, he asked them, "And how is your aged father, of whom you spoke? Is he still in good health?"28 "Your servant our father is thriving and still in good health," they said, as they bowed respectfully.29 When Joseph's eye fell on his full brother Benjamin, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me?" Then he said to him, "May God be gracious to you, my boy!"30 With that, Joseph had to hurry out, for he was so overcome with affection for his brother that he was on the verge of tears. He went into a private room and wept there.31 After washing his face, he reappeared and, now in control of himself, gave the order, "Serve the meal."
32 It was served separately to him, to the brothers, and to the Egyptians who partook of his board. (Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; that is abhorrent to them.) 33 When they were seated by his directions according to their age, from the oldest to the youngest, they looked at one another in amazement;34 and as portions were brought to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's portion was five times as large as anyone else's. So they drank freely and made merry with him.
44 1 Then Joseph gave his head steward these instructions: "Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his bag. 2 In the mouth of the youngest one's bag put also my silver goblet, together with the money for his rations." The steward carried out Joseph's instructions.
3 At daybreak the men and their donkeys were sent off.4 They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his head steward: "Go at once after the men! When you overtake them, say to them, 'Why did you repay good with evil? Why did you steal the silver goblet from me?5 It is the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination. What you have done is wrong.'"
6 When the steward overtook them and repeated these words to them,7 they remonstrated with him: "How can my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. Why, then, would we steal silver or gold from your master's house?9 If any of your servants is found to have the goblet, he shall die, and as for the rest of us, we shall become my lord's slaves."10 But he replied, "Even though it ought to be as you propose, only the one who is found to have it shall become my slave, and the rest of you shall be exonerated."11 Then each of them eagerly lowered his bag to the ground and opened it;12 and when a search was made, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest, the goblet turned up in Benjamin's bag.13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then, when each man had reloaded his donkey, they returned to the city.
14 As Judah and his brothers reentered Joseph's house, he was still there; so they flung themselves on the ground before him.
15 "How could you do such a thing?" Joseph asked them. "You should have known that such a man as I could discover by divination what happened."16 Judah replied: "What can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord-- the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found." 17 "Far be it from me to act thus!" said Joseph. "Only the one in whose possession the goblet was found shall become my slave; the rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."
18 Judah then stepped up to him and said: "I beg you, my lord, let your servant speak earnestly to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh.19 My lord asked your servants, 'Have you a father, or another brother?' 20 So we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and a young brother, the child of his old age. This one's full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by that mother who is left, his father dotes on him.'21 Then you told your servants, 'Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.'22 We replied to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; his father would die if he were to leave him.'23 But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you shall not come into my presence again.'24 When we returned to your servant our father, we reported to him the words of my lord.25 "Later, our father told us to come back and buy some food for the family.26 So we reminded him, 'We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.'27 Then your servant our father said to us, 'As you know, my wife bore me two sons.28 One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts; I have not seen him since.29 If you now take this one away from me too, and some disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.'30 "If then the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, whose very life is bound up with his, he will die as soon as he sees that the boy is missing;31 and your servants will thus send the white head of our father down to the nether world in grief.32 Besides, I, your servant, got the boy from his father by going surety for him, saying, 'If I fail to bring him back to you, father, you can hold it against me forever.'33 Let me, your servant, therefore, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.34 How could I go back to my father if the boy were not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish that would overcome my father."
45 1 Joseph could no longer control himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!" Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.2 But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace.
3 "I am Joseph," he said to his brothers. "Is my father still in good health?" But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.4 "Come closer to me," he told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.5 But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.6 For two years now the famine has been in the land, and for five more years tillage will yield no harvest.7 God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.8 So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made of me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.
9 "Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come to me without delay. 10 You will settle in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me-- you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own. 11 Since five years of famine still lie ahead, I will provide for you there, so that you and your family and all that are yours may not suffer want.'12 Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I, Joseph, who am speaking to you.13 Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and what you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here."
14 Thereupon he flung himself on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept in his arms.15 Joseph then kissed all his brothers, crying over each of them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.16 When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and his courtiers were pleased.17 So Pharaoh told Joseph: "Say to your brothers: 'This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan.18 There get your father and your families, and then come back here to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.'19 Instruct them further: 'Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and to transport your father on your way back here.20 Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.'"
21 The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey.22 He also gave to each of them fresh clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of garments.23 Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten jackasses loaded with the finest products of Egypt and ten jennies loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.24 As he sent his brothers on their way, he told them, "Let there be no recriminations on the way."25 So they left Egypt and made their way to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.26 When they told him, "Joseph is still alive-- in fact, it is he who is ruler of all the land of Egypt," he was dumbfounded; he could not believe them.27 But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent for his transport, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.28 "It is enough," said Israel. "My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die."
46 1 Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he answered.3 Then he said: "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. 4 Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes."
5 So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent for his transport.
6 They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his descendants migrated to Egypt.7 His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters-- all his descendants-- he took with him to Egypt.
8 These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who migrated to Egypt. Reuben, Jacob's first-born,9 and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman.11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah-- but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.15 These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah-- thirty-three persons in all, male and female.16 The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.18 These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob-- sixteen persons in all.19 The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.20 In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard.22 These were the sons whom Rachel bore to Jacob-- fourteen persons in all.23 The sons of Dan: Hushim.24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob-- seven persons in all.
26 Jacob's people who migrated to Egypt-- his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob's sons-- numbered sixty-six persons in all.27 Together with Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt-- two persons-- all the people comprising Jacob's family who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons in all.
28 Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen,29 Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as he saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms.30 And Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive."
31 Joseph then said to his brothers and his father's household: "I will go and inform Pharaoh, telling him: 'My brothers and my father's household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me.32 The men are shepherds, having long been keepers of livestock; and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.'33 So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is,34 you must answer, 'We your servants, like our ancestors, have been keepers of livestock from the beginning until now,' in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians."
47 1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen."2 He then presented to Pharaoh five of his brothers whom he had selected from their full number.3 When Pharaoh asked them what their occupation was, they answered, "We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds.4 We have come," they continued, "in order to stay in this country, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks in the land of Canaan, so severe has the famine been there. Please, therefore, let your servants settle in the region of Goshen."5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, "They may settle in the region of Goshen; and if you know any of them to be qualified, you may put them in charge of my own livestock." Thus, when Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, heard about it, Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your father and brothers have come to you,6 the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and brothers in the pick of the land."
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. After Jacob had paid his respects to Pharaoh,8 Pharaoh asked him, "How many years have you lived?"9 Jacob replied: "The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers." 10 Then Jacob bade Pharaoh farewell and withdrew from his presence.11 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them holdings in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses. 12 And Joseph sustained his father and brothers and his father's whole household, down to the youngest, with food.
13 Since there was no food in any country because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger,14 Joseph gathered in, as payment for the rations that were being dispensed, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh's palace.
15 When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, "Give us food or we shall perish under your eyes; for our money is gone."16 "Since your money is gone," replied Joseph, "give me your livestock, and I will sell you bread in return for your livestock."17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he sold them food in return for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he got them through that year with bread in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year ended, they came to him in the following one and said: "We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord's disposal except our bodies and our farm land.19 Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh's slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste."
20 Thus Joseph acquired all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, since with the famine too much for them to bear, every Egyptian sold his field; so the land passed over to Pharaoh,21 and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt's territory to the other.22 Only the priests' lands Joseph did not take over. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.
23 Joseph told the people: "Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land.24 But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your families (and as food for your children)."25 "You have saved our lives!" they answered. "We are grateful to my lord that we can be Pharaoh's slaves."26 Thus Joseph made it a law for the land in Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.
27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired property, were fertile, and increased greatly.28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.29 When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: "If you really wish to please me, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your constant loyalty to me; do not let me be buried in Egypt.30 When I lie down with my ancestors, have me taken out of Egypt and buried in their burial place."31 "I will do as you say," he replied. But his father demanded, "Swear it to me!" So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.
48 1 Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, "Your father is failing." So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," he rallied his strength and sat up in bed.3 Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me, 4 he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.'5 Your two sons, therefore, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine.6 Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two brothers.
7 I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."
8 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are these?"9 "They are my sons," Joseph answered his father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them to me," said his father, "that I may bless them."10 (Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, and he could not see well.) When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them.11 Then Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!"12 Joseph removed them from his father's knees and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.
13 Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to Israel's right, and led them to him.14 But Israel, crossing his hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, although he was the first-born.
15 Then he blessed them with these words: "May the God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day,
16 The Angel who has delivered me from all harm, bless these boys That in them my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, And they may become teeming multitudes upon the earth!"
17 When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, this seemed wrong to him; so he took hold of his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's,18 saying, "That is not right, father; the other one is the first-born; lay your right hand on his head!"19 But his father resisted. "I know it, son," he said, "I know. That one too shall become a tribe, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."
20 So when he blessed them that day and said, "By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings; may they say, 'God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,'" he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph: "I am about to die. But God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your fathers.22 As for me, I give to you, as to the one above his brothers, Shechem, which I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow."
49 1 Jacob called his sons and said: "Gather around, that I may tell you what is to happen to you in days to come.
2 "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, listen to Israel, your father.
3 "You, Reuben, my first-born, my strength and the first fruit of my manhood, excelling in rank and excelling in power!
4 Unruly as water, you shall no longer excel, for you climbed into your father's bed and defiled my couch to my sorrow.
5 "Simeon and Levi, brothers indeed, weapons of violence are their knives.
6 Let not my soul enter their council, or my spirit be joined with their company; For in their fury they slew men, in their willfulness they maimed oxen.
7 Cursed be their fury so fierce, and their rage so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob, disperse them throughout Israel.
8 "You, Judah, shall your brothers praise-- your hand on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
9 Judah, like a lion's whelp, you have grown up on prey, my son. He crouches like a lion recumbent, the king of beasts-- who would dare rouse him?
10 The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, While tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people's homage.
11 He tethers his donkey to the vine, his purebred ass to the choicest stem. In wine he washes his garments his robe in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 "Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore (This means a shore for ships), and his flank shall be based on Sidon.
14 "Issachar is a rawboned ass, crouching between the saddlebags.
15 When he saw how good a settled life was, and how pleasant the country, He bent his shoulder to the burden and became a toiling serf.
16 "Dan shall achieve justice for his kindred like any other tribe of Israel.
17 Let Dan be a serpent by the roadside, a horned viper by the path, That bites the horse's heel, so that the rider tumbles backward.
18 "(I long for your deliverance, O LORD!)
19 "Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.
20 "Asher's produce is rich, and he shall furnish dainties for kings.
21 "Naphtali is a hind let loose which brings forth lovely fawns.
22 "Joseph is a wild colt,a wild colt by a spring, a wild ass on a hillside.
23 Harrying and attacking, the archers opposed him;
24 But each one's bow remained stiff, as their arms were unsteady, By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 The God of your father, who helps you, God Almighty, who blesses you, With the blessings of the heavens above, the blessings of the abyss that crouches below, The blessings of breasts and womb,
26 the blessings of fresh grain and blossoms, The blessings of the everlasting mountains, the delights of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
27 "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; mornings he devours the prey, and evenings he distributes the spoils."
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said about them, as he bade them farewell and gave to each of them an appropriate message.
29 Then he gave them this charge: "Since I am about to be taken to my kindred, bury me with my fathers in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite,30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah-- 32 the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites."33 When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was taken to his kindred.
50 1 Joseph threw himself on his father's face and wept over him as he kissed him.2 Then he ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. When they embalmed Israel,3 they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.4 When that period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's courtiers. "Please do me this favor," he said, "and convey to Pharaoh this request of mine.5 Since my father, at the point of death, made me promise on oath to bury him in the tomb that he had prepared for himself in the land of Canaan, may I go up there to bury my father and then come back?"6 Pharaoh replied, "Go and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath."
7 So Joseph left to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh's officials who were senior members of his court and all the other dignitaries of Egypt,8 as well as Joseph's whole household, his brothers, and his father's household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen.9 Chariots, too, and charioteers went up with him; it was a very large retinue.
10 When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11 When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, "This is a solemn funeral the Egyptians are having." That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.
12 Thus Jacob's sons did for him as he had instructed them.13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.
15 Now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became fearful and thought, "Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now plans to pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!"16 So they approached Joseph and said: "Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:17 'You shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you to forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you so cruelly.' Please, therefore, forgive the crime that we, the servants of your father's God, committed." When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears.
18 Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, "Let us be your slaves!"19 But Joseph replied to them: "Have no fear. Can I take the place of God?20 Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the survival of many people.21 Therefore have no fear. I will provide for you and for your children." By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.
22 Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years.23 He saw Ephraim's children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh's son Machir were also born on Joseph's knees.
24 Joseph said to his brothers: "I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."25 Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, "When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up with you from this place."
26 Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.
Genèse (NAB) 43