1 José lançou-se sobre o rosto do pai e chorou sobre ele, beijando-o. Depois ordenou aos criados que mandassem embalsamar o corpo, o que foi feito pelos especialistas. O processo de embalsamento levou quarenta dias e o luto nacional durou setenta.4 Passado esse período José foi ter com a corte de Faraó e disse-lhes que intercedessem junto do rei a favor dele:5 Digam a Faraó que o meu pai me fez jurar que levaria o seu corpo para a terra de Canaã para lá o sepultar. Digam-lhe que prometo regressar sem demora.6 Faraó concordou: Vai e sepulta o teu pai tal como ele te pediu.7 José foi e acompanharam-no o conjunto dos conselheiros de Faraó, assim como o dos seus assistentes e todos os anciãos da terra. Além disso foi também toda a família de José, assim como os seus irmãos e as respectivas famílias, deixando ficar apenas os meninos, os rebanhos e o gado. Constituiu-se dessa forma um desfile extremamente concorrido, com carros e com cavaleiros.10 Quando chegaram à Eira do Espinhal, do outro lado do Jordão, fizeram um grande e solene funeral com um período de sete dias de pesar pelo pai de José. A gente daquela terra, os cananeus, vendo aquilo chamaram ao sítio Abel-Mizraim , porque diziam: Isto deve ter sido um grande luto e uma grande perda para os egípcios!12 E assim fizeram os filhos de Israel conforme ele lhes tinha mandado; levaram o corpo para a terra de Canaã, sepultaram-no na gruta de Macpela que Abraão tinha comprado com o campo em que ela se encontrava, a Efrom o heteu, em frente de Mamre.14 Depois José voltou para o Egipto, assim como os irmãos e todos aqueles que os acompanharam no funeral do pai. Mas agora que este falecera os irmãos de José começaram a ter receios: A partir de agora, diziam entre si, José é capaz de querer vingar-se do mal que lhe fizemos.16 Por isso mandaram-lhe uma mensagem: O teu pai antes de morrer deixou instruções pedindo-te que perdoasses aos teus irmãos as transgressões e o pecado que cometeram. Nós, que servimos o Deus do teu pai, rogamos-te pois que nos perdoes. Quando José tomou conhecimento disto que lhe mandaram dizer, não se conteve e chorou.18 Mais tarde vieram os irmãos, que se inclinaram diante dele e disseram: Somos teus servos.19 Mas José respondeu: Não tenham receio de mim. Sou eu Deus para poder julgar e castigar-vos? A verdade é que aquilo que vocês reconhecem como o mal que me fizeram, Deus o mudou em bem, e me elevou até este alto cargo que agora ocupo, de forma a salvar a vida de muita gente. Não, não tenham medo. Podem estar certos de que tomarei conta de vocês e das vossas famílias. E assim lhes falou afectuosamente, retransmitindo-lhes confiança.22 José, os irmãos e suas respectivas famílias continuaram a viver no Egipto. José tinha 110 anos quando morreu. Mas viveu o bastante para poder ver os filhos do seu filho Efraim e os filhos de Maquir, que era filho de Manassés, os quais teve a alegria de ter nos seus joelhos.24 Vou morrer em breve, disse José aos irmãos, mas Deus virá com certeza buscar-vos para vos tirar desta terra do Egipto e vos levar para aquela que prometeu a Abraão, a Isaque e a Jacob. E fez que os irmãos lhe prometessem solenemente, com juramento, que levariam o seu corpo para Canaã.26 Assim morreu José com 110 anos. Embalsamaram-no e puseram-no num caixão, no Egipto.

1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; (for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed:) and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.9 And there went with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan.12 And his sons did to him according as he commanded them:13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.14 And Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will perhaps hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did to him.16 And they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Thy father commanded before he died, saying,17 So shall ye say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did to thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face: and they said, Behold, we are thy servants.19 And Joseph said to them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees.24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.