Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then he directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel, and the process took forty days, the full period required. The Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.
When the mourning period ended, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's court, asking that he might return to Canaan to bury his father in the tomb he had prepared, as sworn. Pharaoh permitted him. Joseph then went with a great company: his brothers, his household, and many of Pharaoh's officials, dignitaries, chariots, and horsemen, leaving only their children and flocks behind in Goshen. It was a vast procession.
At the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they held a seven-day mourning ceremony so great that the Canaanites remarked, "The Egyptians are holding a solemn mourning." That place was named Abel Mizraim. Jacob's sons carried him to Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah, the field Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite near Mamre. Afterward, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt.
Seeing their father was gone, Joseph's brothers feared he would now repay them for the wrongs they had done to him. They sent word, saying their father had commanded Joseph to forgive them, and they begged for pardon. Joseph wept when he received the message. His brothers came, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves." But Joseph answered, "Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You meant to harm me, but God intended it for good—to bring about the saving of many lives. Do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your children." He spoke kindly to them, reassuring their hearts.
Joseph remained in Egypt with his family. He lived 110 years, seeing even the third generation of Ephraim's children and the children of Makir son of Manasseh placed on his knees. Near death, he told his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." He made them swear to carry his bones from Egypt when God delivered them.
Joseph died at 110 years of age. After he was embalmed, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.