Genesis 50
New King James Version
Burial of Jacob
50 Then Joseph (A)fell on his father’s face and (B)wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to (C)embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians (D)mourned[a] for him seventy days.
4 Now when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to (E)the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, 5 (F)‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave (G)which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ”
6 And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering.
10 Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they (H)mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. (I)He observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called [b]Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. 13 For (J)his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham (K)bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. 14 And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.
Joseph Reassures His Brothers
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, (L)they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may [c]actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, 17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; (M)for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of (N)the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers also went and (O)fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 Joseph said to them, (P)“Do not be afraid, (Q)for am I in the place of God? 20 (R)But as for you, you meant evil against me; but (S)God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; (T)I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke [d]kindly to them.
Death of Joseph(U)
22 So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children (V)to the third generation. (W)The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, (X)were also brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but (Y)God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land (Z)of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then (AA)Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely [e]visit you, and (AB)you shall carry up my (AC)bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Footnotes
- Genesis 50:3 Lit. wept
- Genesis 50:11 Lit. Mourning of Egypt
- Genesis 50:15 fully
- Genesis 50:21 Lit. to their hearts
- Genesis 50:25 give attention to
Genèse 50
La Bible du Semeur
L’enterrement de Jacob
50 Joseph se jeta sur le visage de son père, pleura sur lui et l’embrassa. 2 Puis il ordonna aux médecins qui étaient à son service de l’embaumer. Ceux-ci embaumèrent donc Israël. 3 Ils y passèrent quarante jours, le temps nécessaire à un embaumement, et les Egyptiens le pleurèrent pendant soixante-dix jours.
4 Quand les jours de deuil furent écoulés, Joseph dit aux hauts fonctionnaires de la cour du pharaon : Si vous voulez bien m’accorder cette faveur, portez à l’attention du pharaon 5 que mon père m’a fait prêter serment en disant : « Me voici sur le point de mourir ; j’ai fait creuser un tombeau au pays de Canaan, c’est là que vous m’enterrerez. » Maintenant donc, permets-moi d’y monter pour ensevelir mon père ; après quoi, je reviendrai.
6 Le pharaon répondit à Joseph : Va et enterre ton père, comme il te l’a fait jurer.
7 Joseph partit donc pour ensevelir son père, accompagné de tous les hauts fonctionnaires du pharaon, des dignitaires de sa cour et de tous les hauts responsables d’Egypte, 8 ainsi que de toute sa famille, et celle de ses frères, toute la famille de son père. Ils ne laissèrent dans le pays de Goshen que leurs enfants, leurs moutons, leurs chèvres et leurs bovins. 9 Joseph fit le voyage, escorté et de chars et de leur équipage ; le convoi ainsi formé était très impressionnant.
10 Lorsqu’ils furent arrivés à l’Aire d’Atad, située de l’autre côté du Jourdain, ils y célébrèrent de grandes funérailles très imposantes. Joseph mena deuil pour son père pendant sept jours. 11 En voyant ces funérailles dans l’Aire d’Atad, les Cananéens qui habitaient le pays dirent : Ce doit être un deuil important pour les Egyptiens.
C’est pourquoi on a nommé cet endroit de l’autre côté du Jourdain : Abel-Mitsraïm (Deuil de l’Egypte). 12 Les fils de Jacob firent donc ce que leur père leur avait demandé. 13 Ils le transportèrent au pays de Canaan et l’enterrèrent dans la caverne du champ de Makpéla qu’Abraham avait achetée avec le champ à Ephrôn le Hittite, comme propriété funéraire vis-à-vis de Mamré[a]. 14 Après avoir enterré son père, Joseph revint en Egypte avec ses frères et tous ceux qui l’avaient accompagné aux funérailles.
Le Dieu souverain
15 Maintenant que leur père était mort, les frères de Joseph se dirent : Qui sait, peut-être Joseph se mettra-t-il à nous haïr et à nous rendre tout le mal que nous lui avons fait.
16 Alors ils lui envoyèrent un messager pour lui dire : Avant de mourir, ton père nous a donné cet ordre : 17 « Vous demanderez à Joseph : Veuille, je te prie, pardonner le crime de tes frères et leur péché ; car ils t’ont fait beaucoup de mal. Oui, je te prie, pardonne maintenant la faute des serviteurs du Dieu de ton père. »
En recevant ce message, Joseph se mit à pleurer. 18 Ses frères vinrent en personne se jeter à ses pieds en disant : Nous sommes tes esclaves.
19 Mais Joseph leur dit : N’ayez aucune crainte ! Suis-je à la place de Dieu ? 20 Vous aviez projeté de me faire du mal, mais par ce que vous avez fait, Dieu a projeté du bien en vue d’accomplir ce qui se réalise aujourd’hui, pour sauver la vie à un peuple nombreux. 21 Maintenant donc, n’ayez aucune crainte, je pourvoirai à vos besoins ainsi qu’à ceux de vos enfants.
Ainsi il les rassura et toucha leur cœur par ses paroles.
La fin de la vie de Joseph
22 Joseph demeura en Egypte, ainsi que la famille de son père. Il vécut cent dix ans. 23 Il vit les descendants d’Ephraïm jusqu’à la troisième génération ; de plus, les enfants de Makir, fils de Manassé, furent placés sur ses genoux à leur naissance. 24 A la fin de sa vie, il dit aux siens : Je vais mourir, mais Dieu ne manquera pas d’intervenir en votre faveur et vous fera remonter de ce pays vers celui qu’il a promis par serment à Abraham, à Isaac et à Jacob.
25 Puis Joseph fit prêter serment aux Israélites en leur disant : Lorsque Dieu interviendra pour vous, vous emporterez d’ici mes ossements[b].
26 Joseph mourut à l’âge de cent dix ans ; on l’embauma, et on le déposa dans un sarcophage en Egypte.
Genesis 50
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
50 Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.
2 And Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 Then forty days were devoted [to this purpose] for him, for that is the customary number of days required for those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians wept and bemoaned him [as they would for royalty] for seventy days.
4 And when the days of his weeping and deep grief were past, Joseph said to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, to Pharaoh [for Joseph was dressed in mourning and could not do so himself], saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.
7 And Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh—the nobles of his court, and the elders of his house and all the nobles and elders of the land of Egypt—
8 And all the household of Joseph and his brethren and his father’s household. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went with [Joseph] both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore the place was called Abel-mizraim [mourning of Egypt]; it is west of the Jordan.
12 Thus [Jacob’s] sons did for him as he had commanded them.
13 For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren and all who had gone up with him.
15 When Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Perhaps now Joseph will hate us and will pay us back for all the evil we did to him.
16 And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17 So shall you say to Joseph: Forgive (take up and away all resentment and all claim to requital concerning), I pray you now, the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of your father’s God. And Joseph wept when they spoke thus to him.
18 Then his brothers went and fell down before him, saying, See, we are your servants (your slaves)!
19 And Joseph said to them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God? [Vengeance is His, not mine.]
20 As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.
21 Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for and support you and your little ones. And he comforted them [imparting cheer, hope, strength] and spoke to their hearts [kindly].
22 Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived 110 years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children also of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I am going to die. But God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob [to give you].
25 And Joseph took an oath from the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you will carry up my bones from here.
26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put [a]in a coffin in Egypt.
Footnotes
- Genesis 50:26 Joseph’s body remained in Egypt until the exodus to the promised land of Canaan about 200 years later. Its final resting-place was Shechem, near Samaria, “in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem” (Josh. 24:32). Here each of his brothers was also buried (Acts 7:15, 16).
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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