Genesis 49:29-50:14

New American Standard Bible

Jacob Dies

²⁹ Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be ^(A)gathered to my people; ^(B)bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in ^(C)the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the ^(D)cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a ^[a]burial site. ³¹ There they buried ^(E)Abraham and his wife ^(F)Sarah, there they buried ^(G)Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and ^(H)breathed his last, and was ^(I)gathered to his people.

Jacob Is Buried

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians ^(J)embalmed Israel. ³ Now forty days were ^[b]required for ^[c]it, for ^[d]such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^(K)wept for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of ^[e]mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak ^[f]to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘^(L)My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave ^(M)which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now then, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” ⁶ 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 household and all 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 their herds in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Chariots with teams of horses also went up with him; and it was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the ^[g]threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they ^(N)mourned there with a very great and ^[h]sorrowful lamentation; and he ^[i]observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹ Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at ^[j]the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a ^[k]grievous ^[l]mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named ^[m]Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

Burial at Machpelah

¹² And so his sons did for him as he had commanded them; ¹³ for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in ^(O)the cave of the field of Machpelah opposite Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a ^[n]burial site from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴ And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.