Genesis 50
1 Which thing Joseph seiy, and felde on `the face of the fader, and wepte, and kiste hym;
Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.
2 and he comaundide hise seruauntis, lechis, that thei schulden anoynte the fadir with swete smellynge spiceries.
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 While thei `filliden the comaundementis, fourti daies passiden, for this was the custom of deed bodies anoyntid; and Egipt biwepte hym seuenti daies.
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 whanne the tyme of weiling was fillid, Joseph spak to the meyne of Farao, If Y haue founde grace in youre siyt, speke ye in the eeris of Farao; for my fadir chargide me,
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 and seide, Lo! Y die, thou schalt birie me in my sepulcre which Y diggide to me in the lond of Canaan; therfor Y schal stie that Y birie my fadir, and Y schal turne ayen.
‘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 Farao seide to hym, Stie, and birie thi fader, as thou art chargid.
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 whanne `he stiede, alle the elde men of `the hous of Farao yeden with him, and alle the grettere men in birthe of the lond of Egipt; the hous of Joseph with her britheren,
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 without litle children, and flockis, and grete beestis, whiche thei leften in the lond of Gessen, yeden with him.
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 he hadde charis, and horsmen, and felouschip, and cumpany was maad not litil.
Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.
10 And thei camen to the cornfloor of Adad, which is set ouer Jordan, where thei maden the seruice of the deed bodi, with greet weilyng and strong, and fillide seuen daies.
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 whanne the dwellers of the lond of Canaan hadden seyn this, thei seiden, This is a greet weiling to Egipcians; and therfor thei clepiden the name of that place the weilyng of Egipt.
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 Therfor the sones of Jacob diden, as he hadde comaundid to hem;
Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.
13 and thei baren hym in to the lond of Canaan, and thei birieden hym in the double denne, which denne with the feeld Abraham hadde bouyt of Effron Ethei, ayens the face of Mambre, into possessioun of sepulcre.
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 turnede ayen in to Egipt with hise britheren and al the felouschipe, whanne the fadir was biried.
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 whanne the fadir was deed, the britheren of Joseph dredden, and spaken togidere, lest perauenture he be myndeful of the wrong which he suffride, and yelde to vs al the yuel, that we diden.
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 thei senten to hym, and seiden, Thi fadir comaundide to vs,
So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:
17 bifore that he diede, that we schulden seie to thee these thingis bi hise wordis; Y beseche, that thou foryete the wickidnesse of thi britheren, and the synne, and malice which thei hauntiden ayens thee; also we preien, that thou foryyue this wickidnesse to thi fadir, the seruaunt of God. Whanne these thingis weren herd, Joseph wepte.
‘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 hise britheren camen to hym, and worschipiden lowe to erthe, and seiden, We ben thi seruauntis.
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 To whiche he answeride, Nyle ye drede; whether we moun ayenstonde Goddis wille?
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 Ye thouyten yuel of me, and God turnede it in to good, that he schulde enhaunse me, as ye seen in present tyme, and that he schulde make saaf many puplis;
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 nyle ye drede, Y schal fede you and youre litle children. And he coumfortide hem, and spak swetli, and liytly;
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 dwellide in Egipt, with al the hows of his fadir. And he lyuyde an hundrid yeer,
Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
23 and he seiy the sones of Effraym til to the thridde generacioun; also the sones of Machir, son of Manasses, weren borun in the knees of Joseph.
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 Whanne these thingis weren don, Joseph spak to hise brithren, Aftir my deeth God schal visite you, and he schal make to stie fro this lond to the loond which he swoor to Abraham, Ysaac, 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 whanne he hadde chargid hem, and hadde seid, God schal visite you, bere ye out with you my boonus fro 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 he diede, whanne an hundrid and ten yeeris of his lijf weren fillid; and he was anoyntid with swete smellynge spiceries, and was kept in a beere in Egipt.
So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.
