¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions^(A) before he died: ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins^(B) and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’^(C) Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.^(D)” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.^(E)

¹⁸ His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.^(F) “We are your slaves,”^(G) they said.