Genesis 50
1 Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.
| ויפל יוסף על פני אביו ויבך עליו וישק לו |
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.
| ויצו יוסף את עבדיו את הרפאים לחנט את אביו ויחנטו הרפאים את ישראל |
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.
| וימלאו לו ארבעים יום כי כן ימלאו ימי החנטים ויבכו אתו מצרים שבעים יום |
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:
| ויעברו ימי בכיתו וידבר יוסף אל בית פרעה לאמר אם נא מצאתי חן בעיניכם--דברו נא באזני פרעה לאמר |
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.’”
| אבי השביעני לאמר הנה אנכי מת--בקברי אשר כריתי לי בארץ כנען שמה תקברני ועתה אעלה נא ואקברה את אבי--ואשובה |
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.’”
| ויאמר פרעה עלה וקבר את אביך כאשר השביעך |
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.
| ויעל יוסף לקבר את אביו ויעלו אתו כל עבדי פרעה זקני ביתו וכל זקני ארץ מצרים |
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.
| וכל בית יוסף ואחיו ובית אביו רק טפם וצאנם ובקרם--עזבו בארץ גשן |
9 Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.
| ויעל עמו גם רכב גם פרשים ויהי המחנה כבד מאד |
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.
| ויבאו עד גרן האטד אשר בעבר הירדן ויספדו שם מספד גדול וכבד מאד ויעש לאביו אבל שבעת ימים |
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].’
| וירא יושב הארץ הכנעני את האבל בגרן האטד ויאמרו אבל כבד זה למצרים על כן קרא שמה אבל מצרים אשר בעבר הירדן |
12 Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.
| ויעשו בניו לו--כן כאשר צום |
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.
| וישאו אתו בניו ארצה כנען ויקברו אתו במערת שדה המכפלה אשר קנה אברהם את השדה לאחזת קבר מאת עפרן החתי--על פני ממרא |
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.
| וישב יוסף מצרימה הוא ואחיו וכל העלים אתו לקבר את אביו אחרי קברו את אביו |
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?”
| ויראו אחי יוסף כי מת אביהם ויאמרו לו ישטמנו יוסף והשב ישיב לנו את כל הרעה אשר גמלנו אתו |
16 So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:
| ויצוו אל יוסף לאמר אביך צוה לפני מותו לאמר |
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.
| כה תאמרו ליוסף אנא שא נא פשע אחיך וחטאתם כי רעה גמלוך ועתה שא נא לפשע עבדי אלהי אביך ויבך יוסף בדברם אליו |
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.”
| וילכו גם אחיו ויפלו לפניו ויאמרו הננו לך לעבדים |
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]
| ויאמר אלהם יוסף אל תיראו כי התחת אלהים אני |
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!
| ואתם חשבתם עלי רעה אלהים חשבה לטבה למען עשה כיום הזה להחית עם רב |
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.
| ועתה אל תיראו--אנכי אכלכל אתכם ואת טפכם וינחם אותם וידבר על לבם |
22 Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
| וישב יוסף במצרים הוא ובית אביו ויחי יוסף מאה ועשר שנים |
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].
| וירא יוסף לאפרים בני שלשים גם בני מכיר בן מנשה--ילדו על ברכי יוסף |
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.”
| ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו אנכי מת ואלהים פקד יפקד אתכם והעלה אתכם מן הארץ הזאת אל הארץ אשר נשבע לאברהם ליצחק וליעקב |
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.
| וישבע יוסף את בני ישראל לאמר פקד יפקד אלהים אתכם והעלתם את עצמתי מזה |
26 So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.
| וימת יוסף בן מאה ועשר שנים ויחנטו אתו ויישם בארון במצרים |
