Genesis 50

1Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face. 2Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father's body. 3It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

4When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, “Please take this message to the king: 5#Gen 47.29–31‘When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.’ ”

6The king answered, “Go and bury your father, as you promised you would.”

7So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king's officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph. 8His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father's family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen. 9Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

10When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days. 11When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, “What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!” That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.#50.11 Abel Mizraim: This name sounds like the Hebrew for “mourning of the Egyptians”.

12So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them; 13#Acts 7.16they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground. 14After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.

Joseph Reassures his Brothers

15After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said, “What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?” 16So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died, 17he told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.’ Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father's God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received this message.

18Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.

19But Joseph said to them, “Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God. 20You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. 21You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

The Death of Joseph

22Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was 110 years old when he died. 23He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. 24He said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25#Ex 13.19; Josh 24.32; Heb 11.22Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. “Promise me,” he said, “that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you.” 26So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of 110. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 50

1And Yosĕph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him.

2And Yosĕph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Yisra’ĕl.

3And forty days were completed for him, for so are completed the days of embalming. And the Mitsrites wept for him seventy days.

4And when the days of weeping for him were past, Yosĕph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If, now, I have found favour in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying,

5My father made me swear, saying, “See, I am dying, bury me in my burial-site which I dug for myself in the land of Kena‛an.” And now, please let me go up and bury my father, and return.’ ”

6And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

7And Yosĕph 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 Mitsrayim,

8and all the house of Yosĕph, and his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen.

9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great company.

10And they came to the threshing-floor of Ataḏ, which is beyond the Yardĕn, and they lamented there with a great and very heavy lamentation. And he performed seven days of mourning for his father.

11And when the inhabitants of the land, the Kena‛anites, saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Ataḏ, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Mitsrites.” That is why its name was called Aḇĕl Mitsrayim, which is beyond the Yardĕn.

12And his sons did to him as he had commanded them,

13for his sons brought him to the land of Kena‛an, and buried him in the cave of the field of Maḵpĕlah, before Mamrĕ, which Aḇraham bought with the field from Ephron the Ḥittite as property for a burial-site.

14And after he had buried his father, Yosĕph returned to Mitsrayim, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.

15And when Yosĕph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Yosĕph hates us, and pays us back all the evil which we did to him?”

16And they sent word to Yosĕph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying,

17This is what you are to say to Yosĕph, “I beg you, please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your father.” And Yosĕph wept when they spoke to him.

18And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “See, we are your servants.”

19And Yosĕph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of Elohim?

20“And you, you intended evil against me, but Elohim intended it for good, in order to do it as it is this day, to keep a great many people alive.

21“And now, do not fear, I provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

22And Yosĕph dwelt in Mitsrayim, he and his father’s household. And Yosĕph lived one hundred and ten years.

23And Yosĕph saw Ephrayim’s children to the third generation. The children of Maḵir, son of Menashsheh, were also born on Yosĕph’s knees.

24And Yosĕph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but Elohim shall certainly visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya‛aqoḇ.”

25And Yosĕph made the children of Yisra’ĕl swear, saying, “Elohim shall certainly visit you, and you shall bring up my bones from here.”

26And Yosĕph died, being one hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Mitsrayim.

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