Genesis 50
50
1Joseph went and hugged his father, weeping over him and kissing him. 2Then Joseph instructed the physicians who worked for him to embalm his father's body. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3This took a full 40 days, the normal time for the process, and the Egyptians mourned for him for 70 days.
4Once the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's officials, “If you'd be so kind, please speak to Pharaoh on my behalf, and explain to him that 5my father made me swear an oath, telling me, ‘You must bury me in the tomb I've prepared for myself in Canaan. Please allow me to go and bury my father and then I'll return.’”
6Pharaoh replied, “Go and bury your father as he made you swear to do.”
7Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's officials went with him—all Pharaoh's senior advisors and all the leaders of Egypt— 8as well as Joseph's family, his brothers, and his father's family. They only left the small children and their flocks and herds back in Goshen. 9They were accompanied by chariots and horsemen—a really large procession.
10When they got to the threshing floor of Atad, on the other side of the Jordan, they wept loudly in sorrow. Joseph held a seven-day ceremony of mourning for his father there. 11The Canaanites who lived there watched the ceremony of mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. They said, “This is a very sad time of mourning for the Egyptians,” so they renamed the place Abel-mizraim,#50:11. “Abel-mizraim”: meaning “mourning of the Egyptians.” which is on the other side of the Jordan.
12Jacob's sons did what he had instructed them to do. 13They carried his body to Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
14After they had buried their father, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt along with all those who had gone with them. 15However, now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became worried, saying, “Maybe Joseph is holding a grudge against us, and he'll pay us back for all the bad things we did to him.”
16So they sent a message to Joseph to tell him, “Before your father died, he gave this order: 17‘This is what you are to tell Joseph: Forgive your brothers their sins, the bad things they did to you, treating you in such a nasty way.’ Now please forgive us our sins, we who are servants of the God of your father.” When Joseph received their message, he cried.
18Then his brothers themselves came and fell down before Joseph and said, “We are your slaves!”
19“You don't need to be afraid!” he told them. “I don't stand in the place of God, do I? 20While you planned bad things for me, God planned it for good so that in the end many lives could be saved.#50:20. See 45:5, 45:7. 21So don't worry. I'll go on taking care of you and your children.” Speaking kindly like this he calmed them down.
22Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father's whole family. He lived to be 110, 23and saw three generations of his son Ephraim, and the sons of Makir, Manasseh's son, were placed in his lap when they were born.
24“I'm going to die soon,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will be with you, and he will lead you out of this country to the land that he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
25Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, saying, “When God comes to be with you, you must take my bones with you when you leave.”#50:25. “When you leave”: supplied for clarity. 26Joseph died when he was 110. After his body was embalmed, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Genesis 50
50
1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. 2Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.
4 When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favour in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”
7 Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8all 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. 9Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company. 10They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. 11When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12His sons did to him just as he commanded them, 13for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre. 14Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.” 16They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, 17‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today. 21Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 23Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. 24Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
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