Genesis 50

1 Then Joseph hugged his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him.

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

2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So 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 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many the days it takes for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him for 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 When the days for mourning for him had passed, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak 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 take an oath, saying, "Look, I am dying. Bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will 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 your father, in keeping with your oath."

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 Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the officials of Pharaoh went up with him, the elders of his household, 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 all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left 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. It was a very large company.

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

10 Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad which is across the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very bitter lamentation. And he observed seven days of mourning for his father.

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 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a deep mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore, its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is across 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 So his sons did to him just as he commanded them,

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

13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah near Mamre, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial site from Ephron the Hethite.

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 Then after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all that went up with him to bury 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 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will pay us back in full for all of 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 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died, saying,

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

17 Thus you are to tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you."' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to 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 Then his brothers also went and fell down in front of him, and they said, "Look, we are your slaves."

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 But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, 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 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God turned it into good in order to bring about this present result, to save the lives of 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 So therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones." And he consoled them and spoke kindly to 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 So Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's household. And Joseph lived one hundred ten years.

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

23 Joseph saw Ephraim's descendants to the third generation. The children also of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were counted as Joseph's own.

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 to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up out of this land to the land which he promised 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 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath, saying, "God will surely take care of you. Then you must 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 ten years old, and they embalmed him and placed him 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.