Genesis 50:1-21

Jacob’s Funeral and Joseph’s Remaining Time in Egypt

1 Then Joseph fell on the face of his father and wept upon him and kissed him.

2 And Joseph instructed his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.

3 Forty days {were required for it}, for thus [are] the days {required for} embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

4 When the days of his weeping had passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying,

5 'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I [am about] to die. In the tomb that I have hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan--there you must bury me." So then, please let me go up and let me bury my father; then I will return.'"

6 Then Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father as he made you swear."

7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. And all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, went up with him,

8 with all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and the household of his father. They left only their little children and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen.

9 And there also went up with him chariots and horsemen. The company [was] very great.

10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which [was] beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful wailing. And he made a mourning ceremony for his father seven days.

11 And when the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, saw the mourning ceremony at the threshing floor of Atad they said, "This [is] a severe mourning for the Egyptians." Therefore its name was called Abel-Mizraim, which [is] beyond the Jordan.

12 Thus his sons did to him just as he had instructed them.

13 And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite before Mamre.

14 And after burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

15 And when the brothers of Joseph saw that their father [was] dead, they said, "It may be [that] Joseph will hold a grudge against us and pay us back dearly for all the evil that we did to him."

16 So they sent [word] to Joseph saying, "Your father commanded [us] before his death, saying,

17 "Thus you must say to Joseph, 'O, please now forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.' So now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18 Then his brothers went also and fell before him and said, "Behold, we [are] your servants."

19 Then Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for [am] I in the place of God?

20 As for you, you planned evil against me, [but] God planned it for good, in order to do this--to keep many people alive--as [it is] today.

21 So then, do not be afraid. I myself will provide for you and your little ones. And he consoled them and {spoke kindly} to them.

Genesis 50:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 50

This chapter contains a short account of what happened from the death of Jacob to the death of Joseph, and is chiefly concerned with the funeral of Jacob; it first gives an account how Joseph was affected with his father's death, of his orders to the physicians to embalm him, and of the time of their embalming him, and of the Egyptians mourning for him, Ge 50:1-3, next of his request to Pharaoh to give him leave to go and bury his father in Canaan, and his grant of it, Ge 50:4-6 and then of the grand funeral procession thither, the mourning made for Jacob, and his interment according to his orders, Ge 50:7-13 upon the return of Joseph and his brethren to Egypt, they fearing his resentment of their former usage of him, entreat him to forgive them; which they said they did at the direction of their father, to which Joseph readily agreed, and comforted them, and spoke kindly to them, and bid them not fear any hurt from him, for whatever were their intention, God meant it, and had overruled it for good, Ge 50:14-21 and the chapter is concluded with an account of Joseph's age and death, and of his posterity he saw before his death, and of the charge he gave to his brethren to carry his bones with them, when they should depart from Egypt, Ge 50:22-26.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "were fulfilled for it"
• [b]. Literally "fulfilled"
• [c]. Or "east of"
• [d]. Literally "spoke to their heart"