Genesis 50
1 Quod cernens Ioseph, ruit super faciem patris flens et deosculans eum.
Joseph leaned close to his father’s face and cried over him and kissed him.
2 Præcepitque servis suis medicis ut aromatibus condirent patrem.
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 Quibus iussa explentibus, transierunt quadraginta dies: iste quippe mos erat cadaverum conditorum. flevitque eum Ægyptus septuaginta diebus.
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 Et expleto planctus tempore, locutus est Ioseph ad familiam Pharaonis: Si inveni gratiam in conspectu vestro, loquimini in auribus Pharaonis:
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 eo quod pater meus adiuraverit me, dicens: En morior, in sepulchro meo quod fodi mihi in terra Chanaan, sepelies me. Ascendam igitur, et sepeliam patrem meum, ac revertar.
‘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 Dixitque ei Pharao: Ascende et sepeli patrem tuum sicut adiuratus es.
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 Quo ascendente, ierunt cum eo omnes senes domus Pharaonis, cunctique maiores natu Terræ Ægypti:
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 domus Ioseph cum fratribus suis, absque parvulis et gregibus, atque armentis quæ dereliquerant in Terra Gessen.
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 Habuit quoque in comitatu currus et equites: et facta est turba non modica.
Men riding in chariots [MTY] and on horses also went along. It was a huge group.
10 Veneruntque ad Aream Atad, quæ sita est trans Iordanem: ubi celebrantes exequias planctu magno atque vehementi, impleverunt septem dies.
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 Quod cum vidissent habitatores Terræ Chanaan, dixerunt: Planctus magnus est iste Ægyptiis. Et idcirco vocatum est nomen loci illius, Planctus Ægypti.
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 Fecerunt ergo filii Iacob sicut præceperat eis:
Then Jacob’s sons did for him what their father had commanded.
13 Et portantes eum in Terram Chanaan, sepelierunt eum in spelunca duplici, quam emerat Abraham cum agro in possessionem sepulchri ab Ephron Hethæo contra faciem Mambre.
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 Reversusque est Ioseph in Ægyptum cum fratribus suis, et omni comitatu, sepulto patre.
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 Quo mortuo, timentes fratres eius, et mutuo colloquentes: Ne forte memor sit iniuriæ quam passus est, et reddat nobis omne malum quod fecimus,
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 mandaverunt ei dicentes: Pater tuus præcepit nobis antequam moreretur,
So they sent someone to tell this to Joseph for them: “Before our father died, he told us this:
17 ut hæc tibi verbis illius diceremus: Obsecro ut obliviscaris sceleris fratrum tuorum, et peccati atque malitiæ quam exercuerunt in te: nos quoque oramus ut servis Dei patris tui dimittas iniquitatem hanc. Quibus auditis flevit Ioseph.
‘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 Veneruntque ad eum fratres sui: et proni adorantes in terram dixerunt: Servi tui sumus.
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 Quibus ille respondit: Nolite timere: num Dei possumus resistere voluntati?
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 Vos cogitastis de me malum: sed Deus vertit illud in bonum, ut exaltaret me, sicut in præsentiarum cernitis, et salvos faceret multos populos.
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 Nolite timere: ego pascam vos et parvulos vestros. consolatusque est eos, et blande ac leniter est locutus.
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 Et habitavit in Ægypto cum omni domo patris sui: vixitque centum decem annis.
Joseph lived with his father’s family in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
23 Et vidit Ephraim filios usque ad tertiam generationem. Filii quoque Machir filii Manasse nati sunt in genibus Ioseph.
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 Quibus transactis, locutus est fratribus suis: Post mortem meam Deus visitabit vos, et ascendere vos faciet de terra ista ad terram quam iuravit Abraham, Isaac, et Iacob.
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 Cumque adiurasset eos atque dixisset: Deus visitabit vos: asportate ossa mea vobiscum de loco isto:
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 mortuus est, expletis centum decem vitæ suæ annis. Et conditus aromatibus, repositus est in loculo in Ægypto.
So Joseph died in Egypt when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and put in a coffin there.
