Genesis 50
Living Bible
50 Joseph threw himself upon his father’s body and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Afterwards he commanded his morticians to embalm the body. 3 The embalming process required forty days, with a period of national mourning of seventy days. 4 Then, when at last the mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s staff and requested them to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf.
5 “Tell His Majesty,” he requested them, “that Joseph’s father made Joseph swear to take his body back to the land of Canaan, to bury him there. Ask His Majesty to permit me to go and bury my father; assure him that I will return promptly.”
6 Pharaoh agreed. “Go and bury your father, as you promised,” he said.
7 So Joseph went, and a great number of Pharaoh’s counselors and assistants—all the senior officers of the land, 8 as well as all of Joseph’s people—his brothers and their families. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. 9 So a very great number of chariots, cavalry, and people accompanied Joseph.
10 When they arrived at Atad[a] (meaning “Threshing Place of Brambles”), beyond the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn funeral service, with a seven-day period of lamentation for Joseph’s father. 11 The local residents, the Canaanites, renamed the place Abel-mizraim (meaning “Egyptian Mourners”) for they said, “It is a place of very deep mourning by these Egyptians.” 12-13 So his sons did as Israel commanded them, and carried his body into the land of Canaan and buried it there in the cave of Mach-pelah—the cave Abraham had bought in the field of Ephron the Hethite, close to Mamre.
14 Then Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to the funeral of his father. 15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers were frightened.
“Now Joseph will pay us back for all the evil we did to him,” they said. 16-17 So they sent him this message: “Before he died, your father instructed us to tell you to forgive us for the great evil we did to you. We servants of the God of your father beg you to forgive us.” When Joseph read the message, he broke down and cried.
18 Then his brothers came and fell down before him and said, “We are your slaves.”
19 But Joseph told them, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you? 20 As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil, for he brought me to this high position I have today so that I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. Indeed, I myself will take care of you and your families.” And he spoke very kindly to them, reassuring them.
22 So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph was 110 years old when he died. 23 He lived to see the birth of his son Ephraim’s children, and the children of Machir, Manasseh’s son, who played at his feet.
24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come and get you, and bring you out of this land of Egypt and take you back to the land he promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made his brothers promise with an oath that they would take his body back with them when they returned to Canaan. 26 So Joseph died at the age of 110, and they embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Footnotes
- Genesis 50:10 Atad, located just west of the Jordan River, near Jericho.
Genesis 50
Modern English Version
The Burial of Jacob
50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for him, for such is the time required for those who are embalmed. Then the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
4 When the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die. Bury me in my tomb which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore please let me go up and bury my father, and then I will return.’ ”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
7 Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him too, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 all the house of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household. They left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. 9 Both the chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very great company.
10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they mourned with a great and very sorrowful lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 So his sons did with him just as he had commanded them. 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. 14 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, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us and will certainly pay us back for all the wrong we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “I beg you, forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin. For they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face and said, “We are your servants.”
19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many lives. 21 So now, do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
The Death of Joseph
22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. Also, the children of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. God will surely come to you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.