Genesis 50
50
1Joseph threw himself on his father, wept over him, and kissed him.
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2-3Joseph then instructed the physicians in his employ to embalm his father. The physicians embalmed Israel. The embalming took forty days, the period required for embalming. There was public mourning by the Egyptians for seventy days.
4-5When the period of mourning was completed, Joseph petitioned Pharaoh’s court: “If you have reason to think kindly of me, present Pharaoh with my request: My father made me swear, saying, ‘I am ready to die. Bury me in the grave plot that I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Please give me leave to go up and bury my father. Then I’ll come back.”
6Pharaoh said, “Certainly. Go and bury your father as he made you promise under oath.”
7-9So Joseph left to bury his father. And all the high-ranking officials from Pharaoh’s court went with him, all the dignitaries of Egypt, joining Joseph’s family—his brothers and his father’s family. Their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen accompanied them. It was a huge funeral procession.
10Arriving at the Atad Threshing Floor just across the Jordan River, they stopped for a period of mourning, letting their grief out in loud and lengthy lament. For seven days, Joseph engaged in these funeral rites for his father.
11When the Canaanites who lived in that area saw the grief being poured out at the Atad Threshing Floor, they said, “Look how deeply the Egyptians are mourning.” That is how the site at the Jordan got the name Abel Mizraim (Egyptian Lament).
12-13Jacob’s sons continued to carry out his instructions to the letter. They took him on into Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.
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14-15After burying his father, Joseph went back to Egypt. All his brothers who had come with him to bury his father returned with him. After the funeral, Joseph’s brothers talked among themselves: “What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?”
16-17So they sent Joseph a message, “Before his death, your father gave this command: Tell Joseph, ‘Forgive your brothers’ sin—all that wrongdoing. They did treat you very badly.’ Will you do it? Will you forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God?”
When Joseph received their message, he wept.
18Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, “We’ll be your slaves.”
19-21Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.
22-23Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family. Joseph lived 110 years. He lived to see Ephraim’s sons into the third generation. The sons of Makir, Manasseh’s son, were also recognized as Joseph’s.
24At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, “When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here.”
26Joseph died at the age of 110 years. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.
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Genesis 50: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Genesis 50
50
1Then Joseph #Gen. 46:4, 29fell on his father’s face, and #2 Kin. 13:14wept over him, and kissed him. 2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to #Gen. 50:26; 2 Chr. 16:14; Matt. 26:12; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 19:39, 40embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians #Gen. 37:34; Num. 20:29; Deut. 34:8mourned for him seventy days.
4Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to #Esth. 4:2the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, 5#Gen. 47:29–31‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave #2 Chr. 16:14; Is. 22:16; Matt. 27:60which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ”
6And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.
10Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they #Acts 8:2mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. #1 Sam. 31:13; Job 2:13He observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. 13For #Gen. 49:29–31; Acts 7:16his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham #Gen. 23:16–20bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. 14And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.
Joseph Reassures His Brothers
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, #(Job 15:21)they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” 16So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; #(Prov. 28:13)for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of #Gen. 49:25the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18Then his brothers also went and #Gen. 37:7–10; 41:43; 44:14fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19Joseph said to them, #Gen. 45:5“Do not be afraid, #Gen. 30:2; 2 Kin. 5:7for am I in the place of God? 20#Gen. 45:5, 7; Ps. 56:5But as for you, you meant evil against me; but #(Acts 3:13–15)God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21Now therefore, do not be afraid; #(Matt. 5:44)I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Death of Joseph
22So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 23Joseph saw Ephraim’s children #Gen. 48:1; Job 42:16to the third generation. #Num. 26:29; 32:39The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, #Gen. 30:3were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but #Gen. 15:14; 46:4; 48:21; Ex. 3:16, 17; Josh. 3:17; Heb. 11:22God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land #Gen. 26:3; 35:12; 46:4; Ex. 6:8of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25Then #Gen. 47:29, 30; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32; Acts 7:15, 16; Heb. 11:22Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and #Gen. 17:8; 28:13; 35:12; Deut. 1:8; 30:1–8you shall carry up my #Ex. 13:19bones from here.” 26So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.