Genesis 50

1 And when Joseph saw this, he fell upon his father’s face weeping and kissing him.

Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.

2 And he commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father.

Joseph commanded his servants who were morticians to (embalm his father’s body/put spices on his father’s body) to (preserve it/keep it from decaying), and then wrap it with strips of cloth.

3 And 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.

So the morticians did that. It took 40 days to embalm Jacob’s body, because that is the amount of time that was always required for them to embalm a body. And the people of Egypt mourned for 70 days because of Jacob’s death.

4 And 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:

When the time of mourning was finished, Joseph said to the king’s officials, “If you are pleased with me, please take this message to the king:

5 For 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.

‘When my father was about to die, he told me to solemnly promise that I would bury his body in Canaan, in the tomb that he himself had prepared. So please let me go up to Canaan and bury my father’s body. Then I will return.’”

6 And Pharao said to him: Go up and bury thy father according as he made thee swear.

After they gave the king the message, he replied, “Tell Joseph, ‘Go up and bury your father’s body, as you (swore/solemnly promised) that you would do.’”

7 So he went up, and there went with him all the ancients of Pharao’s house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

So Joseph went [up to Canaan] to bury his father’s body. All of the king’s officials, all the king’s advisors, and all the elders in Egypt went with him.

8 And the house of Joseph with his brethren, except their children, and their flocks and herds, which they left in the land of Gessen.

His own family’s small children and their sheep and goats and their cattle stayed in the Goshen region. But all the rest of Joseph’s family and his [older] brothers [and younger brother] and his father’s family went with him.

9 He had also in his train chariots and horsemen: and it was a great company.

Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.

10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is situated beyond the Jordan: where celebrating the exequies with a great and vehement lamentation, they spent full seven days.

They went to the east side of the Jordan [River] and arrived at Atad. There was a place there where people (threshed/beat the grain to separate the wheat from the chaff.) There they mourned loudly for Jacob for a long time. Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for his father for seven days.

11 And 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.

When the Canaan people-group who lived there saw them mourning like that, they said, “This is a sad mourning place for the people of Egypt!” So they named the place Abel-Mizraim, [which sounds like the Hebrew words that mean ‘mourning of the Egyptians].’

12 So the sons of Jacob did as he had commanded them.

Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.

13 And carrying him into the land of Chanaan, they buried him in the double cave which Abraham had bought together with the field for a possession of a buryingplace, of Ephron the Hethite over against Mambre.

They [crossed the Jordan River and] carried Jacob’s body to Canaan. They buried it in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre [town]. That was the field that Abraham had bought from Ephron, who was one of the Heth people-group, to use as a burial place.

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt with his brethren, and all that were in his company, after he had buried his father.

After he had buried his father, Joseph and his [older] brothers [and younger brother] and all the others who had gone up to Canaan with him for the funeral returned to Egypt.

15 Now 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.

After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers became worried. They realized what might happen. They said, “Suppose Joseph hates us and tries to get revenge for all the evil things that we did to him many years ago?”

16 And they sent a message to him, saying: Thy father commanded us before he died,

So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:

17 That 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.

‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive your [older] brothers for the evil thing that they did to you, for their terrible sin against you, because what they did to you was very wrong.”’ So now we, who are servants of your father’s God, ask you, please forgive us for what we did to you.” But Joseph just cried when he received their message.

18 And his brethren came to him: and worshipping prostrate on the ground they said: We are thy servants.

Then his [older] brothers themselves came and threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph, and one of them said, “Please listen. We will just be your servants.”

19 And he answered them: Fear not: can we resist the will of God?

But Joseph replied to them, “Do not be afraid! [God is the one who punishes people]; (am I God?/I am not God!) [RHQ]

20 You 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.

As for you, yes, you wanted to do something very evil to me. But God caused something good to come from it! He wanted to save many people from dying of hunger, and that is what happened! Today they are alive!

21 Fear not: I will feed you and your children. And he comforted them, and spoke gently and mildly.

So I say [again], do not be afraid! I will make sure that you and your children have enough to eat.” In that way he reassured them and made made them feel much better.

22 And he dwelt in Egypt with all his father’s house: and lived a hundred and ten years.

Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.

23 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.

He lived long enough to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. The children of Joseph’s grandson Machir, who was Manasseh’s son, were born before Joseph died, and were adopted by Joseph to be his own children [IDM].

24 After 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.

One day Joseph said to his [older] brothers, “I am about to die. But God will certainly (help/take care of) you. And [some day] he will lead your [descendants] up out of this land and take them to Canaan, the land that he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

25 And he made them swear to him, saying: God will visit you, carry my bones with you out of this place:

Then Joseph said, “When God enables you to do that, you must take my body back to Canaan.” He made his older brothers solemnly promise to do that.

26 And he died being a hundred and ten years old. And being embalmed he was laid in a coffin in Egypt.

So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.