Genesis 50
1 Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.
Then Joseph was so distressed that he collapsed on the face of his father, and he wept over him, and he kissed him.
2 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.
Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 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.
They took forty days, for that was the full time for embalming. The Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 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:
When the days of weeping were over, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,
5 ‘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.’”
'My father made me swear, saying, “See, I am about to die. Bury me in my tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan. There you will bury me.” Now let me go up and bury my father, and then I will return.'”
6 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.’”
Pharaoh answered, “Go and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7 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.
Joseph went up to bury his father. All the officials of Pharaoh went with him—the elders of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt,
8 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.
with all Joseph's household and his brothers, and his father's household. But their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.
9 Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.
Chariots and horsemen also went with him. It was a very large group of people.
10 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.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned with very great and grievous sorrow. There Joseph made a seven-day mourning for his father.
11 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].’
When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion for the Egyptians.” That is why the place was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.
So his sons did for Jacob just as he had instructed them.
13 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.
His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham had bought the cave with the field for a burial place. He had bought it from Ephron the Hittite.
14 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.
After he had buried his father, Joseph returned into Egypt, he, along with his brothers, and all who had accompanied him to bury his father.
15 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?”
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds on to anger against us and wants to repay us in full for all the evil we did to him?”
16 So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:
So they commanded the presence of Joseph, saying, “Your father gave instructions before he died, saying,
17 ‘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.
'Tell Joseph this, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin when they did evil to you.”' Now please forgive the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 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.”
His brothers also went and lay facedown before him. They said, “See, we are your servants.”
19 But Joseph replied to them, “Do not be afraid! [God is the one who punishes people]; (am I God?/I am not God!) [RHQ]
But Joseph answered them, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
20 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!
As for you, you meant to harm me, but God meant it for good, to preserve the lives of many people, as you see today.
21 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.
So now do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little children.” He comforted them in this way and spoke kindly to their hearts.
22 Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived one hundred ten years.
23 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].
Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. He also saw the children of Machir son of Manasseh, who were placed on the knees of Joseph.
24 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.”
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you and lead you up out of this land to the land which he swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 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.
Then Joseph made the people of Israel swear an oath. He said, “God will surely come to you. At that time you must carry up my bones from here.”
26 So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.
So Joseph died, 110 years old. They embalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
