Exodus 13:19
And Moses took Joseph's bones with him: because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying: God shall visit you, carry out my bones from hence with you.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Tulit quoque Moyses ossa Joseph secum : eo quod adjurasset filios Israël, dicens : Visitabit vos Deus ; efferte ossa mea hinc vobiscum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἔλαβεν Μωυσῆς τὰ ὀστᾶ Ἰωσὴφ μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ· ὅρκῳ γὰρ ὥρκισεν τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ λέγων Ἐπισκοπῇ ἐπισκέψεται ὑμᾶς Κύριος, καὶ συνανοίσετέ μου τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐντεῦθεν μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּקַּ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת עַצְמ֥וֹת יוֹסֵ֖ף עִמּ֑וֹ כִּי֩ הַשְׁבֵּ֨עַ הִשְׁבִּ֜יעַ אֶת בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר פָּקֹ֨ד יִפְקֹ֤ד אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְהַעֲלִיתֶ֧ם אֶת עַצְמֹתַ֛י מִזֶּ֖ה אִתְּכֶֽם
Haydock's commentary
Joseph's. This attention to the dead is commended, Hebrews xi. (Worthington)
St. Stephen assures us, that the bones of the other patriarchs were deposited at Sichen; and we may conclude, that they were transported on this occasion by their respective families, Acts vii. 16.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
The Apostolic Constitutions Book VI, Sec. VI. Conclusion of the Work
XXX . Do not therefore keep any such observances about legal and natural purgations, as thinking you are defiled by them. Neither do you seek after Jewish separations, or perpetual washings, or purifications upon the touch of a dead body. But without such observations assemble in the dormitories, reading the holy books, and singing for the martyrs which are fallen asleep, and for all the saints from the beginning of the world, and for your brethren that are asleep in the Lord, and offer the acceptable Eucharist, the representation of the royal body of Christ, both in your churches and in the dormitories; and in the funerals of the departed, accompany them with singing, if they were faithful in Christ. …
St John Chrysostom Homilies on S. Ignatius and S. Babylas, On the Holy Martyr, S. Babylas
The dead body then is not a pollution O Apollo, but to persecute a maiden who wishes to be modest, and to outrage the dignity of a virgin, and to lament at the failure of the shameless deed, this is worthy of accusation, and punishment. There were at all events, many wonderful and great prophets among ourselves, who spake also many things concerning the future, and they in no case used to bid those who asked them to dig up the bones of the departed. Yea Ezekiel standing near the bones themselves was not only not hindered by them, but added flesh, and nerves and skin to them, and brought them back to life again. But the great Moses did not stand near the bones of the dead, but bearing off the whole dead body of Joseph, thus foretold things to come. And very reasonably, for their words were the grace of the Holy Spirit. …
Aphrahat Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations, Of the Resurrection of the Dead
8. Thus also Joseph bound his brethren by an oath, and said to them: When God shall remember you, take up my bones from hence with you. And according to the word of Joseph his brethren did, and kept the oath a hundred and twenty-five years. At that time when the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt, then Moses took up the bones of Joseph when he went forth. And the bones of the righteous man were more precious and better in his estimation than the gold and the silver that the children of Israel took from Egypt when they spoiled them. And the bones of Joseph were forty years in the wilderness; and at that time when Moses fell asleep, he gave them in inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun. The bones of Joseph his father were better in his estimation than all the spoil of that land which he subdued. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).