1 When Jacob died, Joseph kissed and hugged his father's body and cried for a long time. 2-3 In the Egyptian culture, after an important person died, special doctors worked on the body. They put leaves and medicine on it so that the body would not go bad and smell. Joseph told his doctors to do that to Jacob's body and it took them 40 days. All the people in Egypt cried for 70 days, to show how sorry they were.

4 When the sorry time was finished, Joseph asked the king's leading helpers to give the king this message 5 Joseph said, “When my father was about to die, he made me promise to take his body back to Canaan and bury him in the family cemetery. He got that cemetery ready before he came down here to Egypt. And so just before he died, I promised that I would do what he asked. Can I go and bury my father, and then come back.” [a]

6 The king sent his answer back to Joseph, “Yes. You have to keep your promise. Go and bury your father.”

7-9 So Joseph, his brothers, and all the people that lived with them, left Egypt and went back to Canaan to bury Jacob's body. But they left their children and all their animals behind in Goshen.

All the king's main helpers and important workers went with Joseph and his brothers to Canaan. The king sent soldiers to go with Joseph, some of them rode horses and others rode in war wagons called chariots. And so it was a very big group of people that went with Joseph.

10 They came to a place called Atad near the Jordan River. In that place there was a threshing floor[b] where the farmers hit the long grass to get the seeds out. When they got there, all of the people with Joseph cried out loud for his father Jacob for 7 days. 11 There were Canaanite people living in that part of the country. When they saw how sorry the Egyptians were at the threshing floor they said, “Those Egyptian people are really sad for the person that died”. And so they called the place Abel Miz-ray-im, and that name means, those Egyptians are really sad.

12 Joseph and his brothers did what their father Jacob wanted. 13 They carried his body into Canaan and buried him in the cave that was in the paddock called Mack-pelah near Mamre. It was the same cave that Abraham paid money to a Hittite man named Efron so that Abraham's family could use the cave as a cemetery.[c] 14 Joseph and his brothers buried their father and then went back to Egypt.

15 Joseph's brothers said to each other after their father died, “We did a lot of bad things to Joseph. What if he is still angry with us and wants to pay us back for what we did to him?” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph that said, “Before he died, this is what your father Jacob said to us, 17 ‘Go and see Joseph and say to him, “Joseph, we were wrong when we did those bad things to you. We are sorry. Please forgive us. Our father is dead now and so we are asking you to forgive us for what we did to you. All of us belong to the same God your father respected and followed.” ’ ”

When Joseph heard what they said, he cried. 18 His brothers went to see him and bowed down to the ground in front of him. They said, “We are like nothing, we are like workmen that belong to you.”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be frightened. I am not God. I am not a judge to say that you are guilty. 20 You wanted to hurt me, but God used what you did so that good things could happen, and a lot of people stayed alive. 21 Again, I tell you, do not be frightened. I will look after you and all your children.” Joseph kept on saying good things to them and made them feel better inside themselves.

22 Joseph and all his family stayed in Egypt for a long time. Joseph lived for 110 years 23 and in his life time he saw that his son Efraim had children and grandchildren. And he saw that his son Manasseh had a son named Makir and Joseph adopted Makir's sons for himself.

24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, and I know that God will look after you. One day, God will lead you out of this country back to the country he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”[d]

25 Then Joseph asked all the families that came from his father Israel, to make a promise. He said, “Promise me that when God leads you out of Egypt, you will take my body with you and bury it in Canaan.”[e]

26 Joseph was 110 years old when he died. The special doctors worked on Joseph's body for 40 days so that it would not go bad and smell. When they had finished working on his body, they put it in a coffin.

And so, Joseph's body was kept safe in Egypt.

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