1Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, 3taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
4When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, ‘If I have found favour in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, 5“My father made me swear an oath and said, ‘I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.” ’
6Pharaoh said, ‘Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.’
7So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him – the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt – 8besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. 9Chariots and horsemen50:9 Or charioteers also went up with him. It was a very large company.
10When they reached the threshing-floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. 11When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, they said, ‘The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.’ That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.50:11 Abel Mizraim means mourning of the Egyptians.
12So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 13they carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 14After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.
Joseph reassures his brothers
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?’ 16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father left these instructions before he died: 17“This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.” Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.’ When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. ‘We are your slaves,’ they said.
19But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
The death of Joseph
22Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years 23and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.50:23 That is, were counted as his
24Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ 25And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.’
26So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
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።
