Genesis 50
50
1Joseph threw himself on his father, wept over him, and kissed him.
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2-3Joseph then instructed the physicians in his employ to embalm his father. The physicians embalmed Israel. The embalming took forty days, the period required for embalming. There was public mourning by the Egyptians for seventy days.
4-5When the period of mourning was completed, Joseph petitioned Pharaoh’s court: “If you have reason to think kindly of me, present Pharaoh with my request: My father made me swear, saying, ‘I am ready to die. Bury me in the grave plot that I prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Please give me leave to go up and bury my father. Then I’ll come back.”
6Pharaoh said, “Certainly. Go and bury your father as he made you promise under oath.”
7-9So Joseph left to bury his father. And all the high-ranking officials from Pharaoh’s court went with him, all the dignitaries of Egypt, joining Joseph’s family—his brothers and his father’s family. Their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen accompanied them. It was a huge funeral procession.
10Arriving at the Atad Threshing Floor just across the Jordan River, they stopped for a period of mourning, letting their grief out in loud and lengthy lament. For seven days, Joseph engaged in these funeral rites for his father.
11When the Canaanites who lived in that area saw the grief being poured out at the Atad Threshing Floor, they said, “Look how deeply the Egyptians are mourning.” That is how the site at the Jordan got the name Abel Mizraim (Egyptian Lament).
12-13Jacob’s sons continued to carry out his instructions to the letter. They took him on into Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.
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14-15After burying his father, Joseph went back to Egypt. All his brothers who had come with him to bury his father returned with him. After the funeral, Joseph’s brothers talked among themselves: “What if Joseph is carrying a grudge and decides to pay us back for all the wrong we did him?”
16-17So they sent Joseph a message, “Before his death, your father gave this command: Tell Joseph, ‘Forgive your brothers’ sin—all that wrongdoing. They did treat you very badly.’ Will you do it? Will you forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God?”
When Joseph received their message, he wept.
18Then the brothers went in person to him, threw themselves on the ground before him and said, “We’ll be your slaves.”
19-21Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart.
22-23Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family. Joseph lived 110 years. He lived to see Ephraim’s sons into the third generation. The sons of Makir, Manasseh’s son, were also recognized as Joseph’s.
24At the end, Joseph said to his brothers, “I am ready to die. God will most certainly pay you a visit and take you out of this land and back to the land he so solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
25Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise under oath, “When God makes his visitation, make sure you take my bones with you as you leave here.”
26Joseph died at the age of 110 years. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Berĕshith (Genesis) 50
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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