1. Joseph threw himself on his father's body. He sobbed over him and kissed him.
2. Then Joseph talked to the doctors who served him. He told them to prepare the body of his father Israel to be buried. So the doctors prepared it.
3. They took 40 days to do it. They needed that much time to prepare a body in the right way. The Egyptians sobbed over Jacob for 70 days.
4. After the days of sorrow had passed, Joseph went to Pharaoh's officials. He said to them, "If you are pleased with me, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him,
5. 'My father made me take an oath and make a promise to him. He said, "I'm about to die. Bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." So let me go up and bury my father. Then I'll come back.' "
6. Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father. Do what he made you promise to do."
7. So Joseph went up to bury his father. All of Pharaoh's officials went with him. They were the important people of his court and all of the leaders of Egypt.
8. All of Joseph's family also went. His brothers and all of the rest of his father's family went too. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.
9. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large group.
10. They came to the threshing floor of Atad. It was near the Jordan River. There they sobbed loudly and bitterly. Joseph set apart seven days of sadness to honor his father's memory.
11. The people of Canaan who were living there saw how sad all of them were at the threshing floor of Atad. They said, "The Egyptians are having a very special service for the dead." That's why that place near the Jordan River is called Abel of the Egyptians.
12. So Jacob's sons did exactly as he had commanded them.