Genesis 49:29-33·~1 min

The Death of Jacob

Jacob tells his sons he is about to be gathered to his people and commands them to bury him in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan. He carefully identifies it as the family burial place bought long ago, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah lie.

T²⁹hen Jacob instructed 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. ³⁰The 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. ³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

After finishing his charge, Jacob draws his feet into the bed, breathes his last, and is gathered to his people.

³³When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

Section summaryJacob gives his sons one last charge: he is to be buried in the ancestral cave in Canaan, with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. When his instructions are finished, he draws his feet into the bed and dies, gathered to his people.

Role in the chapterThis closing section turns from Jacob's words about the tribes to his own ending. It anchors his death in the burial place of the patriarchs and closes his life in continuity with the family promise.