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.”