1ዮሴፍ በአባቱ ፊት ተደፍቶ አለቀሰ፤ ሳመውም። 2ከዚያም የአባቱ የእስራኤል ሬሳ እንዳይፈርስ ባለ መድኀኒት የሆኑ አገልጋዮቹ በመድኀኒት እንዲቀቡት አዘዘ። ባለ መድኀኒቶቹም እንዳይፈርስ ሬሳውን በመድኀኒት ቀቡት። 3ሬሳው እንዳይፈርስ መድኀኒት መቀባቱ በአገሩ ልማድ መሠረት አርባ ቀን ወሰደባቸው፤ ግብፃውያንም ሰባ ቀን አለቀሱለት።
4የሐዘኑ ጊዜ እንዳበቃ ዮሴፍ የፈርዖንን ቤተ ሰዎች እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “በፊታችሁ ሞገስ አግኝቼ ከሆነ፣ ለፈርዖን እንዲህ ብላችሁ ንገሩልኝ፤ 5‘የምሞትበት ጊዜ ስለ ተቃረበ፣ በከነዓን ምድር ራሴ ቈፍሬ በአዘጋጀሁት መቃብር እንድትቀብረኝ’ ሲል አባቴ አስምሎኛል፤ ስለዚህ ወደዚያ ሄጄ አባቴን ልቅበር፤ ከዚያም እመለሳለሁ።”
6ፈርዖንም፣ “በአስማለህ መሠረት ሄደህ አባትህን ቅበር” አለው።
7ከዚያም ዮሴፍ አባቱን ለመቅበር ወጣ፤ የፈርዖን ሹማምት በሙሉ፣ የቤተ መንግሥቱ ከፍተኛ ባለሥልጣኖች እንዲሁም የግብፅ ከፍተኛ ባለሥልጣኖች ሁሉ ተከተሉት። 8እንደዚሁም የዮሴፍ ቤተ ሰዎች፣ ወንድሞቹና ሌሎችም የአባቱ ቤተ ሰዎች በሙሉ አብረውት ሄዱ። በጌሤም የቀሩት ሕፃናት ልጆቻቸው፣ የበግ፣ የፍየልና የከብት መንጋዎቻቸው ብቻ ነበሩ። 9እንዲሁም ሠረገሎችና ፈረሰኞች50፥9 ወይም ሠረገለኞች አብረውት ወጡ፤ አጀቡም እጅግ ብዙ ነበረ።
10እነርሱም በዮርዳኖስ ማዶ ካለው አጣድ ከተባለው ዐውድማ ሲደርሱ፣ ድምፃቸውን ከፍ በማድረግ ምርር ብለው አለቀሱ፤ ዮሴፍም በዚያ ለአባቱ ሰባት ቀን ልቅሶ ተቀመጠ። 11በዚያ የሚኖሩ ከነዓናውያን በአጣድ ዐውድማ የተደረገውን ልቅሶ ባዩ ጊዜ፣ “ይህ ለግብፃውያን መራራ ልቅሷቸው ነው” አሉ። በዮርዳኖስ አጠገብ ያለው የዚያ ቦታ ስም አቤል50፥11 አቤል ምጽራይም ማለት የግብፃውያን ሐዘን ማለት ነው። ምጽራይም ተብሎ መጠራቱም ከዚሁ የተነሣ ነበር።
12የያዕቆብ ልጆችም አባታቸው እንዳዘዛቸው አደረጉ፤ 13አስከሬኑን ወደ ከነዓን ምድር ወስደው አብርሃም ከኬጢያዊው ከኤፍሮን ላይ ከነዕርሻው በገዛው፣ በመምሬ አጠገብ፣ በማክፌላ ዕርሻ በሚገኘው ዋሻ ውስጥ ቀበሩት።
14ዮሴፍ አባቱን ከቀበረ በኋላ፣ ከወንድሞቹና ለአባቱ ቀብር አብረውት ሄደው ከነበሩት ሁሉ ጋር ወደ ግብፅ ተመለሰ።
ዮሴፍ ወንድሞቹን እንደማይበቀላቸው አረጋገጠ
15የዮሴፍ ወንድሞች ከአባታቸው ሞት በኋላ፣ “ከፈጸምንበት በደል የተነሣ ዮሴፍ ቂም ይዞ ቢበቀለን ምን እናደርጋለን?” ተባባሉ። 16ስለዚህ እንዲህ የሚል መልእክት ወደ ዮሴፍ ላኩ፤ “አባትህ ከመሞቱ በፊት እንዲህ የሚል ትእዛዝ አስተላልፎ ነበር፤ 17‘ለዮሴፍ፣ “ወንድሞችህ በአንተ ላይ የፈጸሙትን ኀጢአትና ክፉ በደል ይቅር በላቸው” ብላችሁ ንገሩት።’ አሁንም፣ የእኛን የአባትህን አምላክ (ኤሎሂም) አገልጋዮች ኀጢአት ይቅር በለን።” መልእክታቸው ሲደርሰው ዮሴፍ አለቀሰ።
18ከዚያም ወንድሞቹ መጡና በፊቱ ተደፍተው፣ “እኛ የአንተ ባሮች ነን” አሉት።
19ዮሴፍ ግን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “አትፍሩ፤ እኔን በእግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ቦታ ማን አስቀመጠኝ? 20እናንተ እኔን ለመጕዳት ዐስባችሁ አድርጋችሁት ነበር፤ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ግን ዛሬ እንደሚታየው ሁሉ የብዙዎችን ሕይወት ለማዳን ለበጎ ነገር አዋለው። 21አሁንም ቢሆን አትፍሩ፤ ለእናንተና ለልጆቻችሁ የሚያስፈልጋችሁን ሁሉ አደርግላችኋለሁ” በማለት አረጋግጦ፣ በደግ ቃል አናገራቸው።
የዮሴፍ መሞት
22ዮሴፍ ከአባቱ ቤተ ሰቦች ጋር በግብፅ ተቀመጠ፤ አንድ መቶ ዐሥር ዓመትም ኖረ፤ 23የኤፍሬምንም የልጅ ልጆች እስከ ሦስት ትውልድ ድረስ አየ። የምናሴ ልጅ ማኪር የወለዳቸውም ልጆች በዮሴፍ ጭን ላይ ተወለዱ።
24ከዚህ በኋላ ዮሴፍ ወንድሞቹን፣ “እነሆ፤ የመሞቻዬ ጊዜ ተቃርቧል፤ እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም) በረድኤቱ ይጐበኛችሁና ከዚህ አገር ያወጣችኋል፤ ለአባቶቻችን ለአብርሃም፣ ለይስሐቅና ለያዕቆብ በመሐላ ተስፋ ወደ ሰጣቸው ምድር ያገባችኋል” አላቸው። 25ዮሴፍም የእስራኤልን ልጆች፣ “እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) በረድኤቱ ያስባችኋል፤ በዚያን ጊዜ ዐፅሜን ከዚህ አገር ይዛችሁ እንድትወጡ” ሲል አስማላቸው።
26ዮሴፍም በመቶ ዐሥር ዓመቱ ሞተ፤ ሬሳው እንዳይፈርስ በአገሩ ደንብ በመድኀኒት ከደረቀ በኋላ፣ ሣጥን ውስጥ አስገብተው በግብፅ ምድር አስቀመጡት።
1And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.50.3 mourned: Heb. wept 4And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5My 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 up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6And 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 up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8And 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. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10And they came to the threshingfloor 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. 11And 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.50.11 Abel-mizraim: that is, The mourning of the Egyptians 12And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13For 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 buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14¶ And Joseph returned into 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 peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,50.16 sent: Heb. charged 17So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 18And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.50.21 kindly…: Heb. to their hearts
22¶ And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 23And 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.50.23 brought…: Heb. born 24And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
