Genesis 50
50
Jacob’s Funeral. 1Joseph flung himself upon his father and wept over him as he kissed him. 2Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. When the physicians embalmed Israel, 3they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. 4When the period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household. “If you please, appeal to Pharaoh, saying: 5My father made me swear: ‘I am dying. Bury me in my grave that I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ So now let me go up to bury my father. Then I will come back.”#Gn 47:30. 6Pharaoh replied, “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath.”
7So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh’s officials who were senior members of his household and all the other elders of the land of Egypt, 8as well as Joseph’s whole household, his brothers, and his father’s household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen. 9Chariots, too, and horsemen went up with him; it was a very imposing retinue.
10When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad,#Goren-ha-atad: “Threshing Floor of the Brambles.” Abel-mizraim: although the name really means “watercourse of the Egyptians,” it is understood here, by a play on the first part of the term, to mean “mourning of the Egyptians.” The site has not been identified through either reading of the name. But it is difficult to see why the mourning rites should have been held in the land beyond the Jordan when the burial was at Hebron. Perhaps an earlier form of the story placed the mourning rites beyond the Wadi of Egypt, the traditional boundary between Canaan and Egypt (Nm 34:5; Jos 15:4, 47). which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, “This is a solemn funeral on the part of the Egyptians!” That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.
12Thus Jacob’s sons did for him as he had instructed them. 13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.#Gn 23:16; Jos 24:32; Acts 7:16.
14After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.
Plea for Forgiveness. 15#The final reconciliation of the brothers. Fearful of what may happen after the death of their father, the brothers engage in a final deception, inventing the dying wish of Jacob. Again, Joseph weeps, and, again, his brothers fall down before him, offering to be his slaves (44:16, 33). Joseph’s assurance is also a summation of the story: “Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people” (v. 20). Joseph’s adoption of the children of Manasseh’s son Machir recalls Jacob’s adoption of his grandchildren (48:5, 13–20); the adoptions reflect tribal history (cf. Jgs 5:14). Now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought, “Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now most certainly will pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!” 16So they sent to Joseph and said: “Before your father died, he gave us these instructions: 17‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: Please forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you harmfully.’ So now please forgive the crime that we, the servants of the God of your father, committed.” When they said this to him, Joseph broke into tears. 18Then his brothers also proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, “We are your slaves!” 19But Joseph replied to them: “Do not fear. Can I take the place of God? 20Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people.#Gn 45:5. 21So now, do not fear. I will provide for you and for your children.” By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.#Gn 47:12.
22Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father’s household. He lived a hundred and ten years. 23He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh’s son Machir were also born on Joseph’s knees.#Nm 32:39; Jos 17:1.
Death of Joseph. 24Joseph said to his brothers: “I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you up from this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”#Ex 3:8; Heb 11:22. 25Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, “When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up from this place.”#Ex 13:19; Heb 11:22. 26Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.#Sir 49:15.
Currently Selected:
Genesis 50: NABRE
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Genesis 50
50
1And Joseph falleth on his father's face, and weepeth over him, and kisseth him;
2and Joseph commandeth his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalm Israel;
3and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
4And the days of his weeping pass away, and Joseph speaketh unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, ‘If, I pray you, I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5My father caused me to swear, saying, Lo, I am dying; in my burying-place which I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan, there dost thou bury me; and now, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and return;’
6and Pharaoh saith, ‘Go up and bury thy father, as he caused thee to swear.’
7And Joseph goeth up to bury his father, and go up with him do all the servants of Pharaoh, elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and the house of his father; only their infants, and their flock, and their herd, have they left in the land of Goshen;
9and there go up with him both chariot and horsemen, and the camp is very great.
10And they come unto the threshing-floor of Atad, which [is] beyond the Jordan, and they lament there, a lamentation great and very grievous; and he maketh for his father a mourning seven days,
11and the inhabitant of the land, the Canaanite, see the mourning in the threshing-floor of Atad, and say, ‘A grievous mourning [is] this to the Egyptians;’ therefore hath [one] called its name ‘The mourning of the Egyptians,’ which [is] beyond the Jordan.
12And his sons do to him so as he commanded them,
13and his sons bear him away to the land of Canaan, and bury him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, from Ephron the Hittite, on the front of Mamre.
14And Joseph turneth back to Egypt, he and his brethren, and all who are going up with him to bury his father, after his burying his father.
15And the brethren of Joseph see that their father is dead, and say, ‘Peradventure Joseph doth hate us, and doth certainly return to us all the evil which we did with him.’
16And they give a charge for Joseph, saying, ‘Thy father commanded before his death, saying,
17Thus ye do say to Joseph, I pray thee, bear, I pray thee, with the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for they have done thee evil; and now, bear, we pray thee, with the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father;’ and Joseph weepeth in their speaking unto him.
18And his brethren also go and fall before him, and say, ‘Lo, we [are] to thee for servants.’
19And Joseph saith unto them, ‘Fear not, for [am] I in the place of God?
20As for you, ye devised against me evil — God devised it for good, in order to do as [at] this day, to keep alive a numerous people;
21and now, fear not: I do nourish you and your infants;’ and he comforteth them, and speaketh unto their heart.
22And Joseph dwelleth in Egypt, he and the house of his father, and Joseph liveth a hundred and ten years,
23and Joseph looketh on Ephraim's sons of the third [generation]; sons also of Machir, son of Manasseh, have been born on the knees of Joseph.
24And Joseph saith unto his brethren, ‘I am dying, and God doth certainly inspect you, and hath caused you to go up from this land, unto the land which He hath sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’
25And Joseph causeth the sons of Israel to swear, saying, ‘God doth certainly inspect you, and ye have brought up my bones from this [place].’
26And Joseph dieth, a son of an hundred and ten years, and they embalm him, and he is put into a coffin in Egypt.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society