56 YACOB DIES
After Seventeen Years' Dwelling in Egypt, Yacob dies, after Blessing his Children and commanding them to go in the Way of YAHWEH. Yoseph and his Brethren and all the Mighty Men of Egypt go up to Canaan to Bury Yacob. Esau, claiming the Land of Canaan as his, will not Allow Yoseph to Bury his Father. After Esau and many of his People are slain, Yacob is Buried by Force. All the Kings of Canaan come up to do him Honor.
1 And Yacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Yacob, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty seven years.
2 At that time Yacob was attacked with that illness of which he died and he sent and called for his son Yoseph from Egypt, and Yoseph his son came from Egypt and Yoseph came unto his father.
3 And Yacob said unto Yoseph and unto his sons, Behold I die, and YAHWEH the Almighty of your ancestors will visit you, and bring you back to the land, which YAHWEH sware to give unto you and unto your children after you, now therefore when I am dead, bury me in the cave which is in Machpelah in Hebron in the land of Canaan, near my ancestors.
4 And Yacob made his sons swear to bury him in Machpelah, in Hebron, and his sons swore unto him concerning this thing.
5 And he commanded them, saying, Serve YAHWEH your Almighty, for he who delivered your fathers will also deliver you from all trouble.
6 And Yacob said, Call all your children unto me, and all the children of Yacob's sons came and sat before him, and Yacob blessed them, and he said unto them, YAHWEH the Almighty of your fathers shall grant you a thousand times as much and bless you, and may he give you the blessing of your father Abraham; and all the children of Yacob's sons went forth on that day after he had blessed them.
7 And on the next day Yacob again called for his sons, and they all assembled and came to him and sat before him, and Yacob on that day blessed his sons before his death, each man did he bless according to his blessing; behold it is written in the book of the law of YAHWEH appertaining to Yisrael.
8 And Yacob said unto Yahudah, I know my son that you are a mighty man for your brethren; reign over them, and your sons shall reign over their sons forever.
9 Only teach your sons the bow and all the weapons of war, in order that they may fight the battles of their brother who will rule over his enemies.
10 And Yacob again commanded his sons on that day, saying, Behold I shall be this day gathered unto my people; carry me up from Egypt, and bury me in the cave of Machpelah as I have commanded you.
11 Howbeit take heed I pray you that none of your sons carry me, only yourselves, and this is the manner you shall do unto me, when you carry my body to go with it to the land of Canaan to bury me,
12 Yahudah, Issachar and Zebulun shall carry my bier at the eastern side; Reuben, Simeon and Gad at the south, Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin at the west, Dan, Asher and Naphtali at the north.
13 Let not Levi carry with you, for he and his sons will carry the ark of the covenant of YAHWEH with the Yisraelites in the camp, neither let Yoseph my son carry, for as a king so let his splendor be; howbeit, Ephraim and Manasseh shall be in their stead.
14 Thus shall you do unto me when you carry me away; do not neglect any thing of all that I command you; and it shall come to pass when you do this unto me, that YAHWEH will remember you favorably and your children after you forever.
15 And you my sons, honor each his brother and his relative, and command your children and your children's children after you to serve YAHWEH the Almighty of your fathers all the days.
16 In order that you may prolong your days in the land, you and your children and your children's children for ever, when you do what is good and upright in the sight of YAHWEH your Almighty, to go in all his ways.
17 And you, Yoseph my son, forgive I pray you the prongs of your brethren and all their misdeeds in the injury that they heaped upon you, for YAHWEH intended it for thine and your children's benefit.
18 And O my son leave not your brethren to the inhabitants of Egypt, neither hurt their feelings, for behold I consign them to the hand of YAHWEH and in your hand to guard them from the Egyptians; and the sons of Yacob answered their father saying, O, our father, all that you have commanded us, so will we do; may YAHWEH only be with us.
19 And Yacob said unto his sons, So may YAHWEH be with you when you keep all his ways; turn not from his ways either to the right or the left in performing what is good and upright in his sight.
20 For I know that many and grievous troubles will befall you in the latter days in the land, yea your children and children's children, only serve YAHWEH and he will save you from all trouble.
21 And it shall come to pass when you shall go after YAHWEH to serve him and will teach your children after you, and your children's children, to know YAHWEH, then will YAHWEH raise up unto you and your children a servant from among your children, and YAHWEH will deliver you through his hand from all affliction, and bring you out of Egypt and bring you back to the land of your fathers to inherit it securely.
22 And Yacob ceased commanding his sons, and he drew his feet into the bed, he died and was gathered to his people.
23 And Yoseph fell upon his father and he cried out and wept over him and he kissed him, and he called out in a bitter voice, and he said, O my father, my father.
24 And his son's wives and all his household came and fell upon Yacob, and they wept over him, and cried in a very loud voice concerning Yacob.
25 And all the sons of Yacob rose up together, and they tore their garments, and they all put sackcloth upon their loins, and they fell upon their faces, and they cast dust upon their heads toward the heavens.
26 And the thing was told unto Osnath Yoseph's wife, and she rose up and put on a sack and she with all the Egyptian women with her came and mourned and wept for Yacob.
27 And also all the people of Egypt who knew Yacob came all on that day when they heard this thing, and all Egypt wept for many days.
28 And also from the land of Canaan did the women come unto Egypt when they heard that Yacob was dead, and they wept for him in Egypt for seventy days.
29 And it came to pass after this that Yoseph commanded his servants to embalm his father with myrrh and frankincense and all manner of incense and perfume, and the servants embalmed Yacob as Yoseph had commanded them.
30 And all the people of Egypt and the elders and all the inhabitants of the land of Goshen wept and mourned over Yacob, and all his sons and the children of his household lamented and mourned over their father Yacob many days.
31 And after the days of his weeping had passed away, at the end of seventy days, Yoseph said unto Pharaoh, I will go up and bury my father in the land of Canaan as he made me swear, and then I will return.
32 And Pharaoh sent Yoseph, saying, Go up and bury your father as he said, and as he made you swear; and Yoseph rose up with all his brethren to go to the land of Canaan to bury their father Yacob as he had commanded them.
33 And Pharaoh commanded that it should be proclaimed throughout Egypt, saying, Whoever goes not up with Yoseph and his brethren to the land of Canaan to bury Yacob, shall die.
34 And all Egypt heard of Pharaoh's proclamation, and they all rose up together, and all the servants of Pharaoh, and the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went up with Yoseph, and all the officers and nobles of Pharaoh went up as the servants of Yoseph, and they went to bury Yacob in the land of Canaan.
35 And the sons of Yacob carried the bier upon which he lay; according to all that their father commanded them, so did his sons unto him.
36 And the bier was of pure gold, and it was inlaid round about with onyx stones and bdellium; and the covering of the bier was gold woven work, joined with threads, and over them were hooks of onyx stones and bdellium.
37 And Yoseph placed upon the head of his father Yacob a large golden crown, and he put a golden scepter in his hand, and they surrounded the bier as was the custom of kings during their lives.
38 And all the troops of Egypt went before him in this array, at first all the mighty men of Pharaoh, and the mighty men of Yoseph, and after them the rest of the inhabitants of Egypt, and they were all girded with swords and equipped with coats of mail, and the trappings of war were upon them.
39 And all the weepers and mourners went at a distance opposite to the bier, going and weeping and lamenting, and the rest of the people went after the bier.
40 And Yoseph and his household went together near the bier barefooted and weeping, and the rest of Yoseph's servants went around him; each man had his ornaments upon him, and they were all armed with their weapons of war.
41 And fifty of Yacob's servants went in front of the bier, and they strewed along the road myrrh and aloes, and all manner of perfume, and all the sons of Yacob that carried the bier walked upon the perfumery, and the servants of Yacob went before them strewing the perfume along the road.
42 And Yoseph went up with a heavy camp, and they did after this manner every day until they reached the land of Canaan, and they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which was on the other side of Jordan, and they mourned an exceeding great and heavy mourning in that place.
43 And all the kings of Canaan heard of this thing and they all went forth, each man from his house, thirty-one kings of Canaan, and they all came with their men to mourn and weep over Yacob.
44 And all these kings beheld Yacob's bier, and behold Yoseph's crown was upon it, and they also put their crowns upon the bier, and encircled it with crowns.
45 And all these kings made in that place a great and heavy mourning with the sons of Yacob and Egypt over Yacob, for all the kings of Canaan knew the valor of Yacob and his sons.
46 And the report reached Esau, saying, Yacob died in Egypt, and his sons and all Egypt are conveying him to the land of Canaan to bury him.
47 And Esau heard this thing, and he was dwelling in mount Seir, and he rose up with his sons and all his people and all his household, a people exceedingly great, and they came to mourn and weep over Yacob.
48 And it came to pass, when Esau came he mourned for his brother Yacob, and all Egypt and all Canaan again rose up and mourned a great mourning with Esau over Yacob in that place
49 And Yoseph and his brethren brought their father Yacob from that place, and they went to Hebron to bury Yacob in the cave by his fathers.
50 And they came unto Kireath-arba, to the cave, and as they came Esau stood with his sons against Yoseph and his brethren as a hindrance in the cave, saying, Yacob shall not be buried therein, for it belongs to us and to our father.
51 And Yoseph and his brethren heard the words of Esau's sons, and they were exceedingly wroth, and Yoseph approached unto Esau, saying, What is this thing which they have spoken? surely my father Yacob bought it from you for great riches after the death of Isaac, now five and twenty years ago, and also all the land of Canaan he bought from you and from your sons, and your seed after you.
52 And Yacob bought it for his sons and his seed after him for an inheritance for ever, and why speak you these things this day?
53 And Esau answered, saying, You speak falsely and utterest lies, for I sold not anything belonging to me in all this land, as you say, neither did my brother Yacob buy aught belonging to me in this land.
54 And Esau spoke these things in order to deceive Yoseph with his words, for Esau knew that Yoseph was not present in those days when Esau sold all belonging to him in the land of Canaan to Yacob.
55 And Yoseph said unto Esau, Surely my father inserted these things with you in the record of purchase, and testified the record with witnesses, and behold it is with us in Egypt.
56 And Esau answered, saying unto him, Bring the record, all that you wilt find in the record, so will we do.
57 And Yoseph called unto Naphtali his brother, and he said, Hasten quickly, stay not, and run I pray you to Egypt and bring all the records; the record of the purchase, the sealed record and the open record, and also all the first records in which all the transactions of the birth-right are written, fetch you.
58 And you shall bring them unto us hither, that we may know from them all the words of Esau and his sons which they spoke this day.
59 And Naphtali hearkened to the voice of Yoseph and he hastened and ran to go down to Egypt, and Naphtali was lighter on foot than any of the stags that were upon the wilderness, for he would go upon ears of corn without crushing them.
60 And when Esau saw that Naphtali had gone to fetch the records, he and his sons increased their resistance against the cave, and Esau and all his people rose up against Yoseph and his brethren to battle.
61 And all the sons of Yacob and the people of Egypt fought with Esau and his men, and the sons of Esau and his people were smitten before the sons of Yacob, and the sons of Yacob slew of Esau's people forty men.
62 And Chushim the son of Dan, the son of Yacob, was at that time with Yacob's sons, but he was about a hundred cubits distant from the place of battle, for he remained with the children of Yacob's sons by Yacob's bier to guard it.
63 And Chushim was dumb and deaf, still he understood the voice of consternation among men.
64 And he asked, saying, Why do you not bury the dead, and what is this great consternation? and they answered him the words of Esau and his sons; and he ran to Esau in the midst of the battle, and he slew Esau with a sword, and he cut off his head, and it sprang to a distance, and Esau fell among the people of the battle.
65 And when Chushim did this thing the sons of Yacob prevailed over the sons of Esau, and the sons of Yacob buried their father Yacob by force in the cave, and the sons of Esau beheld it.
66 And Yacob was buried in Hebron, in the cave of Machpelah which Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth for the possession of a burial place, and he was buried in very costly garments.
67 And no king had such honor paid him as Yoseph paid unto his father at his death, for he buried him with great honor like unto the burial of kings.
68 And Yoseph and his brethren made a mourning of seven days for their father.