Deaths of Jacob and Joseph

29 When the time drew near for Jacob to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If now you will do me a favour, put your hand under my thigh and swear that you will act kindly and faithfully with me. Do not bury me, I beg of you, in Egypt; 30 but when I lie down to sleep with my ancestors, carry, me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying-place.’ Joseph replied, ‘I will do as you have requested.’ 31 Jacob said, ‘Give me your oath’; so Joseph gave him his oath; and Israel bowed toward the head of the bed.

Students

48 Now after these things, Joseph was told, ‘Your father is sick.’ So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 When Jacob was told, ‘Your son Joseph has come to you.’ Jacob rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. 3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4 and said to me, “I will make you fruitful, and numerous, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.” 5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 But your offspring, which you father after them, will be yours. Their inheritance will come from their older brothers. 7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan on the way, some distance from Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).’

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, ‘Who are these?’ 9 And Joseph said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God has given me here.’ Israel said, Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them. 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, ‘I had not thought to see your face; and now God has let me see your offspring as well.’ 12 Joseph took them from his father’s lap, and bowed with his face to the earth.Shorter

13 So Joseph took them both — Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand — and brought them near to him. 14 Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of Ephraim who was the younger and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the eldest.

15 He then blessed Joseph, saying, ‘The God whom my forefathers Abraham and Isaac revered and served, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long unto this day, 16 the messenger who has delivered me from all evil, bless the boys; and let them be known as descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.’

17 But when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he seized his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. 18 Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father; this one is the eldest; put your right hand upon his head.’ 19 But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know, he also will become a people, and he will shall be great, but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a populous nation.’ 20 So he blessed them that day and said, ‘The Israelites will invoke a blessing like your own, saying, “God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.” ’ So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 Jacob said to Joseph, ‘See, I am about to die; but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 As well I give you a mountain-slope which I took out of the power of the Amorites with my sword and bow.’

Students

49 Jacob summoned his sons and said, ‘Come near, so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.’

2 Assemble, sons of Jacob,

and listen to Israel your father.

3 Reuben you are my firstborn,

my strength and the first-fruit of my manhood.

First in dignity and strength.

4 Boiling over like water, you will not be first,

For you climbed into my concubine’s the bed,

you defiled your father’s couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are akin,

weapons of violence are their swords.

I will not enter into their council,

6 My heart will not join in their assembly,

for men in their anger they slew.

and oxen in their wantonness they hamstrung.

7 Accursed is their anger that it is so fierce,

and their wrath because it is so cruel;

I will divide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, your brothers praise you!

Your hand is on the neck of your enemies.

Before you your father’s sons bow down.

9 Judah is a whelp of a lion.

From the kill, my son, you have returned;

He has crouched, he has lain down as a lion,

as an old lion, who will disturb him?

10 The sceptre will not pass from Judah,

nor the royal staff from between his feet,

and to him is due the obedience of the people.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,

and his colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine,

and his clothing in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are red with wine,

and his teeth are white with milk.

13 Zebulun, he lives by the seashore;

he is by a shore that is lined with ships,

and his border extends to Sidon.

14 Issachar, he is a strong-limbed donkey,

crouching down between the sheepfolds,

15 and when he saw the resting place was good,

that the land also was pleasant,

he bowed his shoulder to bear,

and became a slave under a taskmaster.

16 Dan, he judges his own people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan is a serpent by the way,

a horned-adder beside the path

that bites the horse’s heel

so that his rider is thrown off.

18 I have waited for your deliverance Lord!

19 Gad, robber-bands press upon him,

but he also will press upon their heel.

20 Asher, his food is rich,

and he provides royal dainties.

21 Naphtali, he is a flourishing terebinth,

that sends forth beautiful branches.

22 Joseph, he is a fruitful branch,

a fruitful branch by a spring,

his tendrils run over the wall.

23 They bitterly attack, they shoot at him.

The archers hatefully assail him,

24 But his bow remains ever bent,

his forearms tireless,

through the power of the Mighty One of Jacob,

In the name of the Shepherd of Israel,

25 the God of your fathers, who will help you,

and God Almighty, who blesses you,

with blessings of heaven above,

and of the great deep that lies beneath.

With blessings of the breast and womb,

26 with blessings of your father,

with blessings of the everlasting mountains,

with the gifts of the ancient hills!

They will be on the head of Joseph,

on the head of the consecrated among his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a ravening wolf.

In the morning he devours prey.

and at evening divides the spoil.

28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them and blessed them; each according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 He instructed 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 that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for the purpose of holding it as a burying-place. 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 which was purchased from the children of Heth.’ 33 When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his ancestors.

Shorter

50 Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.

2 Then Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Jacob; 3 and forty days were devoted to it, for this is the full period for embalming. 4 The Egyptians also mourned for him seventy days.

5 When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the members of Pharaoh’s court, saying, ‘If now you wish to do me a favour, speak to Pharaoh and say, Joseph’s father made him take an oath, saying, “See, I am dying; bury me in my grave which I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.” Ask Pharaoh, “Let me go up, I beg of you, and bury my father; after that I will return.” ’ 6 Pharaoh said, ‘Go up and bury your father, as he made you take an oath.’

7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their little ones, their sheep, and their cattle they left in the land of Goshen. 9 There went up with him both chariots and horsemen, so that it was a very great company.

10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, they held there a great and impressive lamentation; and Joseph appointed a period of mourning for his father which lasted seven days. 11 When the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, ‘This is an impressive mourning among the Egyptians.’ That is why that place across the Jordan is called, Ebel-Mizraim[fn].

12 Then Jacob’s sons did for him what he had commanded them: 13 they carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to hold as a place of burial. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father returned to Egypt.

15 When Joseph’s brothers realised that their father was dead, they said, ‘It may be that Joseph will now hate us and fully punish us for all the evil which we did to him!’ 16 They sent this message to him: ‘Your father commanded before he died, 17 “Tell Joseph: Forgive, I beg of you, the wrongdoing and sin of your brothers, for they treated you basely.” So now we beg of you forgive the wrongdoing of the servants of your father’s God.’

While they were speaking to him, Joseph began to weep, 18 his brothers also went and fell down before him and said, ‘See, we are your slaves.’ 19 But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for am I in the place of God? 20 You plotted mischief against me, but God intended it for good, in order to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of the lives of many people. 21 Now therefore do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ He said this kindly, comforting them.

22 Joseph remained in Egypt with his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years, 23 and he saw Ephraim’s great-grandchildren; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were borne upon Joseph’s knees.

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will surely remember you and bring you up from this land to the land which he promised by an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ 25 Joseph required an oath of the children of Israel, saying, ‘When God remembers you, as he surely will, then you must carry up my bones from here.’ 26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.