Genesis 50
50
1Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father’s body; so Jacob#50:2 Hebrew Israel. See note on 35:21. was embalmed. 3The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.
4When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s advisers and said, “Please do me this favor and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. 5Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, ‘Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.’ So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay.”
6Pharaoh agreed to Joseph’s request. “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise,” he said. 7So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh’s household, and all the senior officers of Egypt. 8Joseph also took his entire household and his brothers and their households. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. 9A great number of chariots and charioteers accompanied Joseph.
10When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father. 11The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim,#50:11 Abel-mizraim means “mourning of the Egyptians.” for they said, “This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians.”
12So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them. 13They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
Joseph Reassures His Brothers
14After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 15But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.
16So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.
19But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.
The Death of Joseph
22So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. 23He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own.#50:23 Hebrew who were born on Joseph’s knees.
24“Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.” 26So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
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Genesis 50: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Genesis 50
50
1And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father's face weeping and kissing him.
2And he commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father.
3And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days: for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed. And Egypt mourned for him seventy days.
4And the time of the mourning being expired, Joseph spoke to the family of Pharao: If I have found favour in your sight, speak in the ears of Pharao.
5For my father made me swear to him, saying: Behold, I die: thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I have digged for myself in the land of Chanaan. So I will go up and bury my father, and return.
6And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he made thee swear.
7So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of Pharao's house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8And the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children, and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen.
9He had also in his train chariots and horsemen: and it was a great company.
10And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days.
11And when the inhabitants of Chanaan saw this, they said: This is a great mourning to the Egyptians. And therefore the name of that place was called: The mourning of Egypt.
12So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them.
13And carrying him into the land of Chanaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought together with the held for a possession of a burying place, of Ephron the Hethite over against Mambre.
14And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that were in his company, after he had buried his father.
15Now he being dead, his brethren were afraid, and talked one with another: Lest perhaps he should remember the wrong he suffered, and requite us all the evil that we did to him.
16And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us before he died,
17That we should say thus much to thee from him: I beseech thee to forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin and malice they practiced against thee. We also pray thee, to forgive the servants of the God of thy father this wickedness. And when Joseph heard this, he wept.
18And his brethren came to him: and worshipping prostrate on the ground they said: We are thy servants.
19And he answered them: Fear not. Can we resist the will of God?
20You thought evil against me: but God turned it into good, that he might exalt me, as at present you see, and might save many people.
21Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly.
22And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's house: and lived a hundred and ten years. And he saw the children of Ephraim to the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasses were born on Joseph's knees.
23After which he told his brethren: God will visit you after my death, and will make you go up out of this land, to the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
24And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you. Carry my bones with you out of this place:
25And he died being a hundred and ten years old. And being embalmed he was laid in a coffin in Egypt.
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