1 And Joseph falleth on his father's face, and weepeth over him, and kisseth him ;
2 and Joseph commandeth his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalm Israel ;
3 and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
4 And the days of his weeping pass away, and Joseph speaketh unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, 'If, I pray you, I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father caused me to swear, saying, Lo, I am dying ; in my burying-place which I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan, there dost thou bury me ; and now, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and return ;'
6 and Pharaoh saith, 'Go up and bury thy father, as he caused thee to swear.'
7 And Joseph goeth up to bury his father, and go up with him do all the servants of Pharaoh, elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and the house of his father ; only their infants, and their flock, and their herd, have they left in the land of Goshen ;
9 and there go up with him both chariot and horsemen, and the camp is very great.
10 And they come unto the threshing-floor of Atad, which [is] beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great and very grievous ; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
11 and the inhabitant of the land, the Canaanite, see the mourning in the threshing-floor of Atad, and say, 'A grievous mourning [is] this to the Egyptians ;' therefore hath [one] called its name 'The mourning of the Egyptians,' which [is] beyond the Jordan.
12 And his sons do to him so as he commanded them,
13 and his sons bear him away to the land of Canaan, and bury him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, from Ephron the Hittite, on the front of Mamre.
14 And Joseph turneth back to Egypt, he and his brethren, and all who are going up with him to bury his father, after his burying his father.
Note · Genèse 50.1–14
Le deuil reçoit du temps et des gestes
Les pleurs, l’embaumement et le voyage associent la maison de Jacob et le cadre égyptien. Le respect du défunt comprend l’exécution de sa demande. La foi en la promesse n’abolit pas le soin du corps ni la nécessité de traverser collectivement la séparation.
15 And the brethren of Joseph see that their father is dead, and say, 'Peradventure Joseph doth hate us, and doth certainly return to us all the evil which we did with him.'
16 And they give a charge for Joseph, saying, 'Thy father commanded before his death, saying,
17 Thus ye do say to Joseph, I pray thee, bear, I pray thee, with the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for they have done thee evil ; and now, bear, we pray thee, with the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father ;' and Joseph weepeth in their speaking unto him.
18 And his brethren also go and fall before him, and say, 'Lo, we [are] to thee for servants.'
Note · Genèse 50.15–18
La peur de la vengeance après le deuil
Les frères transmettent à Joseph une parole attribuée au père. Le narrateur n’avait pas rapporté auparavant cet ordre précis, mais ne déclare pas non plus explicitement qu’il est inventé. Leurs gestes expriment en tout cas une peur persistante et une reconnaissance du tort commis.
19 And Joseph saith unto them, 'Fear not, for [am] I in the place of God ?
20 As for you, ye devised against me evil — God devised it for good, in order to do as [at] this day, to keep alive a numerous people ;
21 and now, fear not : I do nourish you and your infants ;' and he comforteth them, and speaketh unto their heart.
Note · Genèse 50.19–21
La providence ne blanchit pas l’intention mauvaise
Joseph ne rebaptise pas bien le projet de ses frères. Il affirme que Dieu a ouvert une issue de vie à travers une histoire voulue pour le mal. Cette parole de la victime ne peut être utilisée pour imposer à toute victime une réconciliation immédiate ni pour dispenser l’auteur d’une violence de répondre de ses actes.
22 And Joseph dwelleth in Egypt, he and the house of his father, and Joseph liveth a hundred and ten years,
23 and Joseph looketh on Ephraim's sons of the third [generation] ; sons also of Machir, son of Manasseh, have been born on the knees of Joseph.
24 And Joseph saith unto his brethren, 'I am dying, and God doth certainly inspect you, and hath caused you to go up from this land, unto the land which He hath sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.'
25 And Joseph causeth the sons of Israel to swear, saying, 'God doth certainly inspect you, and ye have brought up my bones from this [place].'
26 And Joseph dieth, a son of an hundred and ten years, and they embalm him, and he is put into a coffin in Egypt.
Note · Genèse 50.22–26
Une fin qui attend encore une sortie
Joseph meurt en confiant ses os à l’avenir du peuple. Sa demande lie la mémoire du défunt à une visite de Dieu encore attendue. Le cercueil en Égypte fait ainsi de la fin du livre une ouverture vers l’Exode : l’histoire de la promesse continue au-delà des personnages qui l’ont portée.