1 Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him and kissed him.
2 Then Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 They took 40 days for him, because that is how long embalming takes, and Egypt wept 70 days.
4 When the days of formal weeping passed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s house saying, “If I’ve found favor in your eyes, please say in Pharaoh’s ears,
5 “My father made me take an oath saying, ‘Behold, I am about to die. In my tomb—which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan—there you must bury me.’ So now, please allow me to go up and bury my father, and then return.”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father just as he made you swear on oath.”
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. Also all of Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt went up with him,