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Genesis 50

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1 And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him.

2 And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so.

3 And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh:

5 My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again.

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him.

7 So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt,

8 And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen.

9 And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army.

10 And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days.

11 And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan.

12 So his sons did as he had given them orders to do:

13 For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.

14 And when his father had been put to rest, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone with him, went back to Egypt.

15 Now after the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said to themselves, It may be that Joseph's heart will be turned against us, and he will give us punishment for all the evil which we did to him.

16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, Your father, before his death, gave us orders, saying,

17 You are to say to Joseph, Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked, and the evil they did to you: now, if it is your pleasure, let the sin of the servants of your father's God have forgiveness. And at these words, Joseph was overcome with weeping.

18 Then his brothers went, and falling at his feet, said, Truly, we are your servants.

19 And Joseph said, Have no fear: am I in the place of God?

20 As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil, but God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today.

21 So now, have no fear: for I will take care of you and your little ones. So he gave them comfort with kind words.

22 Now Joseph and all his father's family went on living in Egypt: and the years of Joseph's life were a hundred and ten.

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, came to birth on Joseph's knees.

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

25 Then Joseph made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly give effect to his word, and you are to take my bones away from here.

26 So Joseph came to his death, being a hundred and ten years old: and they made his body ready, and he was put in a chest in Egypt.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6556

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6556. Verses 15-21 And Joseph's brothers saw that their father had died, and they said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us and will fully return to us all the evil with which we repaid him. And they gave a command to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded before he died, saying, Thus you are to say to Joseph, I beg you, forgive - I beg you - the transgression of your brothers, and their sin, for the evil with which they repaid you; and now forgive, I beg you, the transgression of the servants of your father's God. And Joseph wept as they spoke to him. And his brothers also went and fell down before him, and said, Behold, we are your slaves. And Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? And you thought evil against me; God thought [to turn] it into good, in order to do what is in accord with this day, to bestow life on a great people. And now, do not be afraid; I will sustain you and your young children. And he consoled them and spoke to their heart.

'And Joseph's brothers saw that their father had died' means the things which had become alienated from truth and good, and a discernment that the Church had been restored to life. 'And they said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us' means that they rejected the internal. 'And will fully return to us all the evil with which we repaid him' means that a punishment as merited is therefore impending. 'And they gave a command to Joseph, saying' means influx from the internal and the consequent perception. 'Your father commanded before he died, saying' means that it is by the command of the Church. 'Thus you are to say to Joseph' means perception from the internal about what was to be done. 'I beg you, forgive - I beg you - the transgression of your brothers, and their sin' means supplication and repentance. 'For the evil with which they repaid you means that they had become turned away from inflowing goodness and truth. 'And now forgive, I beg you, the transgression of the servants of your father's God' means repentance, and an acknowledgement of the Divine things of the Church. 'And Joseph wept as they spoke to him' means reception brought about by love. 'And his brothers also went and fell down before him' means the submission of the things in the natural to the internal. 'And said, Behold, we are your slaves' means that they will not be their own master. 'And Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid' means renewal by the internal. 'For am I in the place of God?' means that God will provide. 'And you thought evil against me' means that the things which have become alienated intend nothing but evil. 'God thought [to turn] it into good' means that the Divine turns it into good. 'In order to do what is in accord with this day' means that this is in accord with order from eternity. 'To bestow life on a great people' means that life is thereby imparted to those governed by the truths of good 'And now, do not be afraid' means that they should not be anxious. 'I will sustain you and your young children' means that they will have life from the Divine by way of the internal, through truth which is of the understanding and good which is of the will. 'And he consoled them' means hope. 'And spoke to their heart' means trust.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.