44 Bible Verses about Jacob, Life And Character Of

The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;
two people will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger. read more.
When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom. Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” read more.
“Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”

And he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. Take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me. read more.
Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, ‘Bring me the game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ Now obey every order I give you, my son. Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.” Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin. Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.” His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.” So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”

And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”

He replied, “Because the Lord your God worked it out for me.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?” So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

And he replied, “I am.” Then he said, “Serve me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.” So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:

Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
May God give to you—
from the dew of the sky
and from the richness of the land—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brothers;
may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.

And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for one meal. For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. read more.
Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

The Lord said to Abram:

Go out from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse those who treat you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”

May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you.
Be master over your brothers;
may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.”

God also said to him:

I am God Almighty.
Be fruitful and multiply.
A nation, indeed an assembly of nations,
will come from you,
and kings will descend from you.
I will give to you the land
that I gave to Abraham and Isaac.
And I will give the land
to your future descendants. Then God withdrew from him at the place where He had spoken to him.

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart: “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, read more.
and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides— until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”

So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones from the place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground with its top reaching heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down on it. read more.
Yahweh was standing there beside him, saying, “I am Yahweh, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on. Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven.” Early in the morning Jacob took the stone that was near his head and set it up as a marker. He poured oil on top of it and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz. Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God. This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me.”

Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him: “Don’t take a wife from the Canaanite women. Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.

Now Laban had two daughters: the older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel. Leah had ordinary eyes, but Rachel was shapely and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel, so he answered Laban, “I’ll work for you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” read more.
Laban replied, “Better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay with me.” So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed. I want to sleep with her.” So Laban invited all the men of the place to a feast. That evening, Laban took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and he slept with her. And Laban gave his slave Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her slave. When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Wasn’t it for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?” Laban answered, “It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn. Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me.” And Jacob did just that. He finished the week of celebration, and Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. And Laban gave his slave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her slave. Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he worked for Laban another seven years.

So Jacob said to him, “You know what I have done for you and your herds. For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?” Laban asked, “What should I give you?”

And Jacob said, “You don’t need to give me anything. If you do this one thing for me, I will continue to shepherd and keep your flock. read more.
Let me go through all your sheep today and remove every sheep that is speckled or spotted, every dark-colored sheep among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the female goats. Such will be my wages. In the future when you come to check on my wages, my honesty will testify for me. If I have any female goats that are not speckled or spotted, or any lambs that are not black, they will be considered stolen.” “Good,” said Laban. “Let it be as you have said.” That day Laban removed the streaked and spotted male goats and all the speckled and spotted female goats—every one that had any white on it—and every dark-colored one among the lambs, and he placed his sons in charge of them. He put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob. Jacob, meanwhile, was shepherding the rest of Laban’s flock. Jacob then took branches of fresh poplar, almond, and plane wood, and peeled the bark, exposing white stripes on the branches. He set the peeled branches in the troughs in front of the sheep—in the water channels where the sheep came to drink. And the sheep bred when they came to drink. The flocks bred in front of the branches and bore streaked, speckled, and spotted young. Jacob separated the lambs and made the flocks face the streaked and the completely dark sheep in Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own stock apart and didn’t put them with Laban’s sheep. Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob placed the branches in the troughs, in full view of the flocks, and they would breed in front of the branches. As for the weaklings of the flocks, he did not put out the branches. So it turned out that the weak sheep belonged to Laban and the stronger ones to Jacob. And the man became very rich. He had many flocks, male and female slaves, and camels and donkeys.

Jacob had Rachel and Leah called to the field where his flocks were. He said to them, “I can see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not the same, but the God of my father has been with me. You know that I’ve worked hard for your father read more.
and that he has cheated me and changed my wages 10 times. But God has not let him harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born spotted. If he said, ‘The streaked sheep will be your wages,’ then all the sheep were born streaked. God has taken away your father’s herds and given them to me.

Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s and has built this wealth from what belonged to our father.” And Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not the same. Then the Lord said to him, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you.”

“When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females. In that dream the Angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Look up and see: all the males that are mating with the flocks are streaked, spotted, and speckled, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. read more.
I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’”

Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that He could not defeat him, He struck Jacob’s hip socket as they wrestled and dislocated his hip. Then He said to Jacob, “Let Me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” read more.
“What is your name?” the man asked.

“Jacob,” he replied. “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” He said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked Him, “Please tell me Your name.”

But He answered, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there. Jacob then named the place Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face,” he said, “and I have been delivered.”

God said to Jacob, “Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your clothes. We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me everywhere I have gone.” read more.
Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem. When they set out, a terror from God came over the cities around them, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

Now Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming toward him with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female slaves. He put the female slaves and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. He himself went on ahead and bowed to the ground seven times until he approached his brother. read more.
But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him. Then they wept. When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?”

He answered, “The children God has graciously given your servant.” Then the female slaves and their children approached him and bowed down. Leah and her children also approached and bowed down, and then Joseph and Rachel approached and bowed down. So Esau said, “What do you mean by this whole procession I met?”

“To find favor with you, my lord,” he answered. “I have enough, my brother,” Esau replied. “Keep what you have.” But Jacob said, “No, please! If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand. For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God’s face, since you have accepted me. Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need.” So Jacob urged him until he accepted. Then Esau said, “Let’s move on, and I’ll go ahead of you.” Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and I have nursing sheep and cattle. If they are driven hard for one day, the whole herd will die. Let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will continue on slowly, at a pace suited to the livestock and the children, until I come to my lord at Seir.” Esau said, “Let me leave some of my people with you.”

But he replied, “Why do that? Please indulge me, my lord.” That day Esau started on his way back to Seir, but Jacob went on to Succoth. He built a house for himself and stalls for his livestock; that is why the place was called Succoth.

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had 12 sons: Leah’s sons were Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn),
Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, and Zebulun.
Rachel’s sons were
Joseph and Benjamin.
read more.
The sons of Rachel’s slave Bilhah
were Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Leah’s slave Zilpah
were Gad and Asher.

These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram.

Leah conceived, gave birth to a son, and named him Reuben, for she said, “The Lord has seen my affliction; surely my husband will love me now.” She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “The Lord heard that I am unloved and has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “At last, my husband will become attached to me because I have borne three sons for him.” Therefore he was named Levi. read more.
And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then Leah stopped having children.

Then she said, “Here is my slave Bilhah. Go sleep with her, and she’ll bear children for me so that through her I too can build a family.” So Rachel gave her slave Bilhah to Jacob as a wife, and he slept with her. Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. read more.
Rachel said, “God has vindicated me; yes, He has heard me and given me a son,” and she named him Dan. Rachel’s slave Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Rachel said, “In my wrestlings with God, I have wrestled with my sister and won,” and she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took her slave Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a son. Then Leah said, “What good fortune!” and she named him Gad. When Leah’s slave Zilpah bore Jacob a second son, Leah said, “I am happy that the women call me happy,” so she named him Asher.

They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult. During her difficult labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have another son.” With her last breath—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.

Dinah, Leah’s daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see some of the young women of the area. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.

Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah, but since his sons were with his livestock in the field, he remained silent until they returned.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?” His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!” read more.
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other? Listen,” he went on, “I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us so that we will live and not die.” So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. read more.
But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, threw his arms around him, and wept for a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen your face and know you are still alive!”

But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Then Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go to see him before I die.”

Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said.

And Jacob replied, “Here I am.” God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. read more.
I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.”

Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

Then he blessed Joseph and said:

The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm—
may He bless these boys.
And may they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they grow to be numerous within the land. When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it was a mistake and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. read more.
Joseph said to his father, “Not that way, my father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation.” So he blessed them that day with these words:

The nation Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying,
“May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,”
putting Ephraim before Manasseh.

Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel: Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
read more.
Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,
because you got into your father’s bed
and you defiled it—he got into my bed. Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.
May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel. Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
Judah is a young lion—
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until He whose right it is comes
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.
He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk. Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.
He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer. Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
He will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horses’ heels
so that its rider falls backward. I wait for Your salvation, Lord. Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels. Asher’s food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies. Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns. Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches climb over the wall.
The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors
and the bounty of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the prince of his brothers. Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder.” These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

Now Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years, and his life span was 147 years. When the time drew near for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt. When I rest with my fathers, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”

Then he commanded them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there. read more.
The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.” When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.

He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.