Genesis 50:1-11

Joseph flung himself over Jacob, kissing him and weeping. And his tears fell on his father’s face. When he was able to compose himself, he ordered the royal physicians to embalm his father. So, they began the required forty-day process. The Egyptians mourned for Israel for seventy days, and when the weeping period was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s officials and said to them, “Please, may I ask a personal favor? Bring my appeal before Pharaoh and tell him: ‘My dying father made me promise that I would bury him in the land of Canaan—in a tomb he had hewn with his own hands. Please give me permission to go and bury my father; then I will return.’ ” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Go to Canaan, bury your father, and keep your promise to him.” So Joseph went to Canaan to bury his father, and all the officials of Pharaoh, the elite members of his court, and all of Egypt’s dignitaries accompanied him. All of Joseph’s household and all his brothers and their father’s household went, too. Only the children and livestock remained behind in Goshen. Many chariots and horsemen—a huge entourage—accompanied Joseph to Canaan in a grand procession! When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned loudly with bitter sorrow for a long time. And Joseph spent seven days there in ceremonial mourning for his father. When the people of Canaan saw the depth of mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn occasion of grief for the Egyptians,” and named the place near the Jordan, The Mourning of the Egyptians.