and asks, “What is your occupation?" you shall say, "Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers," that you may live in the province of Goshen, for every shepherd is looked down upon by the Egyptians.'

Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh and said, 'My father and my brothers with their sheep and cattle and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan; and now they are in the province of Goshen.' And he took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to them, 'What is your occupation?' And they said to Pharaoh, 'Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.' They also said to Pharaoh, 'We have come to live in the land, because there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, we beg of you, let your servants stay in the province of Goshen.' Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Let them stay in the province of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my cattle.'

Joseph also brought in Jacob his father and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How many years have you lived?' Jacob answered, 'I have lived a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the years of my life, and they have not been as many as those that my forefathers lived on earth.' After Jacob had blessed Pharaoh, he went out from Pharaoh's presence. So Joseph gave his father and his brothers a place to live in and a home in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the province of Goshen, as Pharaoh had commanded.

Joseph also provided food for his father and his brothers and all his father's household according to the

number of the little children.

And the Israelites lived

in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they acquired possessions in it and had many children and became exceedingly numerous.

31. THE END OF JACOB'S TEMPESTUOUS LIFE

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 favor, 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; but when I lie down to sleep with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying-place.' Joseph replied, 'I will surely do as you have requested.' Jacob said, 'Give me your oath'; so Joseph gave him his oath; and Jacob bowed toward the head of the bed.

Then Jacob rallied and sat up on the bed and said, 'Bring your two sons to me, and I will bless them.' 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. 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. He then blessed them, 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, the angel 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 in the midst of the earth.'

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. And Joseph said to his father, 'Not so, my father; this one is the eldest; put your right hand upon his head.' But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know, he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a populous nation.' So he blessed them that day and said, "The Israelites shall invoke blessing like your own, saying, "God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

And 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.' Then Jacob drew his feet up into the bed and died and was gathered to his people. And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him.

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

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 favor, 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.' Now therefore Joseph petitions "Let me go up, I beg of you, and bury my father; after that I will return." Pharaoh said, 'Go up and bury your father, as he made you take oath."

So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh, the elders of his house

hold, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 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. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, so that it was a very great company.

When they came to the bramble field 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. When the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, saw the mourning at the bramble field of Atad, they said, "This is an impressive mourning among the Egyptians.' That is why that place across the Jordan is called, Ebel-Mizraim [Mourning of the Egyptians].

Then Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them: 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. 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.

32. JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS

When Joseph's brothers realized 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!' And they sent this message to him: "Your father commanded before he died, "Thus shall you say to Joseph, Forgive, I beg of you, the wrong-, doing 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, his brothers also went and fell down before him and said, ‘See, we are your slaves.' But Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for am I in the place of God? 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. Now therefore do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.' Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

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

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.' Joseph required an oath of the children of Israel, saying, 'When God remembers you, as he surely will, then you shall carry up my bones from here.' So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.