Study Desk

"As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal delicacies.

Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,

'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am about to die; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me." Now then, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"

When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they mourned there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed seven days of mourning for his father.

Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians." Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

And so his sons did for him as he had commanded them;

for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah opposite Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

When Joseph's brothers had seen that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!"

'This is what you shall say to Joseph: "Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong."' And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place?

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.

"So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.

So they appointed taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?"

The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them."

And because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.

And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?"