Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may ^(A)tell you what shall befall you ^(B)in the last days:

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

²⁹ Then he charged them and said to them: “I ^(AO)am to be gathered to my people; ^(AP)bury me with my fathers ^(AQ)in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, ^(AR)which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. ^31 (AS)There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, ^(AT)there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.

Burial of Jacob

50 Then Joseph ^(A)fell on his father’s face and ^(B)wept over him, and kissed him. ² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to ^(C)embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³ Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians ^(D)mourned^[a] for him seventy days.

⁴ Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to ^(E)the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ^5 (F)‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave ^(G)which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ”

⁶ And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. ⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.

¹⁰ Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they ^(H)mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. ^(I)He observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹ And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called ^[b]Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

¹² So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. ¹³ For ^(J)his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham ^(K)bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. ¹⁴ And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, ^(L)they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may ^[c]actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ¹⁷ ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; ^(M)for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of ^(N)the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸ Then his brothers also went and ^(O)fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”

¹⁹ Joseph said to them, ^(P)“Do not be afraid, ^(Q)for am I in the place of God? ^20 (R)But as for you, you meant evil against me; but ^(S)God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. ²¹ Now therefore, do not be afraid; ^(T)I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke ^[d]kindly to them.

Death of Joseph^(U)

²² So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. ²³ Joseph saw Ephraim’s children ^(V)to the third generation. ^(W)The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, ^(X)were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but ^(Y)God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land ^(Z)of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then ^(AA)Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely ^[e]visit you, and ^(AB)you shall carry up my ^(AC)bones from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

⁶ And ^(A)Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. ^7 (B)But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and ^[a]grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, ^(C)who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and ^(D)mightier than we; ^10 (E)come, let us ^(F)deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them ^(G)to afflict them with their ^(H)burdens. And they built for Pharaoh ^(I)supply cities, Pithom ^(J)and Raamses. ¹² But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. ¹³ So the Egyptians made the children of Israel ^(K)serve with ^[b]rigor. ¹⁴ And they ^(L)made their lives bitter with hard bondage—^(M)in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.

¹⁵ Then the king of Egypt spoke to the ^(N)Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a ^(O)son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives ^(P)feared God, and did not do ^(Q)as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?”

¹⁹ And ^(R)the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they ^[c]are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

^20 (S)Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and ^[d]grew very mighty. ²¹ And so it was, because the midwives feared God, ^(T)that He ^[e]provided households for them.

²² So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ^(U)“Every son who is ^[f]born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”