²⁹ He charged them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought, along with the field from Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a burial site.^{(A) 31} There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it was purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ When Jacob (Israel) had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was ^[a]gathered to his people [who had preceded him in death].

Burial Preparations and Mourning for Jacob

50 Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him [tenderly]. ² Then Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm (mummify) his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel (Jacob). ³ Now forty days were required for this, for that is the customary number of days [of preparation] required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept and grieved for him [in public mourning as they would for royalty] for seventy days.

⁴ When the days of weeping and public mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear [an oath], saying, “Hear me, I am about to die; bury me in my tomb which I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.” So now let me go up [to Canaan], please, and bury my father; then I will return.’” ⁶ And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷ So Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father, and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh, [the nobles of his court and] the elders of his household and all [the nobles and] the elders of the land of Egypt— ⁸ and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household. They left only their little ones and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Both chariots and horsemen also went up [to Canaan] with Joseph; and it was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they mourned there with a great lamentation (expressions of mourning for the deceased) and [extreme demonstrations of] sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and Joseph observed a seven-day mourning for his father. ¹¹ When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim (mourning of Egypt); it is west of the Jordan.

Burial at Machpelah

¹² So Jacob’s 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 of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him.