Genesis 50

Chapter 50

1Joseph bent down near his father's face. He wept over him and he kissed him. 2Then Joseph told some of his servants to take Jacob's body. They knew how to put special oil on the body so that it would not become spoiled. Joseph's servants did what he told them to do. 3The servants took care of the body for 40 days, which is the usual time. The Egyptians wept for 70 days because of Jacob's death. #50:3 ‘The Egyptians wept for 70 days’ shows that they were very sad. They did this when someone important died. Jacob was an important person in Egypt because he was Joseph's father.

4The time for them to weep came to an end. Joseph said to Pharaoh's officers, ‘If you agree, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him this: 5My father made me make a promise. He said, “I will soon die. Bury me in the grave that I prepared for myself in Canaan.” So please let me go and bury my father there. Then I will return.’ 6Pharaoh said, ‘Go and bury your father's body in the way that you promised him.’

7So Joseph went to Canaan to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officers went with him. The important people who lived in Pharaoh's palace, as well as the important Egyptian officers, all went with Joseph. 8Everyone in Joseph's family also went with him. His brothers and their families went, but they did not take their young children or their animals. They left those in Goshen. 9Many soldiers also went with them. Some of them rode in chariots and some rode on horses.

10They came to Atad's threshing floor, near the Jordan River. They stayed there for seven days to weep for the death of Jacob. They were very sad. 11The Canaanite people who lived near there saw how sad Joseph and his people were. So they gave Atad's threshing floor a different name. They called it ‘Abel Mizraim’. #50:11 ‘Abel Mizraim’ means ‘Egyptians are sad’. They said, ‘The Egyptians are showing that they are very sad because an important person has died.’

12So Jacob's sons did what he had told them to do. 13They carried his body to Canaan. They buried him there in the cave, in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre. That is the cave that Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite. He had bought it as a grave for him and for his family.

14When Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt together with his brothers. Everyone who had gone to Canaan with him also returned to Egypt.

15Now Jacob was dead and Joseph's brothers became frightened. They said to each other, ‘We did a bad thing to Joseph. Now he will be angry and he will punish us for what we did.’ 16So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, ‘Your father said this to us before he died. 17He told us to say to you, “Please forgive your brothers for the very bad thing that they did against you. They did a very cruel thing to you.” So please forgive our sin. We are servants of your father's God.’

When Joseph received their message, he was very upset and he wept. 18His brothers came to see him. They bent down low to the ground in front of Joseph. They said to him, ‘We are your slaves.’ 19But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of me. It is God who has the authority to punish people. I am not God! 20You decided to hurt me. But God caused a good thing to happen because of that. God brought me here to save the lives of many people. You can see how that has really happened! 21So do not be afraid. I will continue to take care of you. You and your children will receive what you need.’ In this way Joseph comforted them and he spoke kind words to them.

Joseph dies

22Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived for 110 years. 23And he was still alive to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also saw Makir's children. Makir was Manasseh's son. Joseph took Makir's children to be his own children. #50:23 When Joseph died, Makir's children would receive what Joseph's own children received.

24Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I will soon die. But God will come to you and he will help you. He will take you out of Egypt. He will take you back to the land that he promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ 25He also said, ‘God will help you to leave Egypt. When that happens, you must carry my bones away from here.’ Joseph made the other sons of Israel promise that they would do that.

26So Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They put special oil on his body so that it would not become spoiled. Then they put his body in a box there in Egypt. #50:26 See Exodus 13:19.

Genesis 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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Genesis 50

Genesis 50