¹² Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, ¹³ for ^(A)his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham ^(B)bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

God's Good Purposes

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 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 ^(C)the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ His brothers also came and ^(D)fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^(E)am I in the place of God? ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^(F)God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people^[a] should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not fear; ^(G)I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The Advance of the Gospel

¹² I want you to know, brothers,^[a] that what has happened to me has really ^(A)served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard^[b] and ^(B)to all the rest that ^(C)my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold ^(D)to speak the word^[c] without fear.

^15 (E)Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, ^(F)knowing that I am put here for ^(G)the defence of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ ^(H)out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

To Live Is Christ

Yes, and I will rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that ^(I)through your prayers and ^(J)the help of ^(K)the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, ²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope ^(L)that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full ^(M)courage now as always Christ ^(N)will be honoured in my body, ^(O)whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me ^(P)to live is Christ, and to die is gain.