Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song of David for going up to the Temple.

²⁹ Then Israel gave them a command. He said, “When I die, I want to be with my people. I want to be buried with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. ³⁰ That cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought that field from Ephron so that he could have a burying place. ³¹ Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried in that cave. Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried in that cave. I buried my wife Leah in that cave. ³² That cave is in the field that was bought from the Hittites.” ³³ After Jacob finished talking to his sons, he lay down, put his feet back on the bed, and died.

Jacob’s Funeral

50 When Israel died, Joseph was very sad. He hugged his father and cried over him and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded his servants to prepare his father’s body. (These servants were doctors.) The doctors prepared Jacob’s body to be buried. They prepared the body in the special way of the Egyptians. ³ When the Egyptians prepared the body in this special way, they waited 40 days before they buried the body. Then the Egyptians had a special time of sadness for Jacob. This time was 70 days.

⁴ After the time of sadness was finished, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s officers and said, “Please tell this to Pharaoh: ⁵ ‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him. I promised that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan. This is the cave that he prepared for himself. So please let me go and bury my father. Then I will come back here to you.’”

⁶ Pharaoh answered, “Keep your promise. Go and bury your father.”

⁷ So Joseph went to bury his father. All of Pharaoh’s officials, personal advisors, and all the older leaders of Egypt went with Joseph. ⁸ All the people in Joseph’s family, his brothers, and all the people in his father’s family went with him. Only the children and the animals stayed in the land of Goshen. ⁹ So there was a large crowd of people with him. There was even a group of soldiers riding in chariots and some on horses.

¹⁰ They went to Goren Atad,^[a] east of the Jordan River. There they had a long funeral service for Israel, which continued for seven days. ¹¹ When the people who lived in Canaan saw the funeral service at Goren Atad, they said, “This is a time of great sorrow for those Egyptians.” So now that place across the Jordan River is named Abel Mizraim.^[b]

¹² So Jacob’s sons did what their father told them. ¹³ They carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah. This was the cave near Mamre in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite. Abraham bought that cave to use as a burial place. ¹⁴ After Joseph buried his father, he and everyone in the group with him went back to Egypt.

¹² We don’t dare put ourselves in the same class with those who think they are so important. We don’t compare ourselves to them. They use themselves to measure themselves, and they judge themselves by what they themselves are. This shows that they know nothing.

¹³ But we will not boast about anything outside the work that was given us to do. We will limit our boasting to the work God gave us, but this work includes our work with you. ¹⁴ We would be boasting too much only if we had not already come to you. But we have come to you with the Good News about Christ. ¹⁵ We limit our boasting to the work that is ours. We don’t boast about the work other people have done. We hope that your faith will continue to grow. We hope that you will help our work to grow much larger. ¹⁶ We want to tell the Good News in the areas beyond your city. We don’t want to boast about work that has already been done in someone else’s area. ¹⁷ “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”^{[a] 18} What people say about themselves means nothing. What counts is whether the Lord says they have done well.