< Genesis 50 >
1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
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 they fulfilled for him forty days: for so they fulfill the days of those that are embalmed; and the Egyptians wept 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 when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
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 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die; in my grave, which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me: now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and I will bury my father, and return again.
‘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 Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, as he hath 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 And Joseph went up to bury his father, and there went up with him all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his 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 all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left behind in the land of Goshen.
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 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and the encampment was very great.
Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.
10 And they came to the thrashing-floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and they held there a great and very sore lamentation; and he made for his father a mourning of 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 the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the thrashing-floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians; wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizrayim, which is beyond the Jordan.
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 And his sons did unto him according as he had commanded them;
Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.
13 And his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham bought for a possession, as a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
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 unto Egypt, he, and his brothers, and all that were gone up with him to bury his father, 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 And when Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, Peradventure Joseph may now hate us: and then he would certainly requite us all the evil which we have done unto 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 word unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before his death, saying,
So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:
17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, O forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy brothers, and their sin; for evil have they done unto thee: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father; and Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.
‘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 brothers also went and fell down before him; and they said, Behold, we will be 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 Joseph said unto them, Fear not; for am I in the place 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 But as for you, though ye thought evil against me, God meant it unto good; in order to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save alive a numerous 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 Now therefore fear ye not, I will support you, and your little ones; and he comforted them, and spoke kindly unto them.
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 Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house; and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
23 And Joseph saw of Ephraim children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Menasseh were brought up upon 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 And Joseph said unto his brothers, I shall die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he hath sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 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 Joseph caused the children of Israel to swear, saying, God will surely visit you, and then shall ye carry up my bones from here.
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 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put 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.