Genesis 50:3-13

3 While they fulfilled his behests, forty days passed, for this was the custom of dead bodies (that were) anointed; and Egypt bewept him (for) seventy days.
4 And when the time of wailing was fulfilled, Joseph spake to the household of Pharaoh, (and said,) If I have found grace in your sight, speak ye in the ears of Pharaoh (If I have found grace before you, speak ye to Pharaoh for me);
5 for my father charged me [with (an) oath], and said, Lo! I die; thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I digged to me in the land of Canaan; therefore I shall go up that I bury my father, and I shall turn again. (for my father charged me with an oath, and said, Lo! now I die; and thou shalt bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan; and so let me go up now, that I bury my father, and then I shall return.)
6 And Pharaoh said to him, Go up, and bury thy father, as thou art charged.
7 And when Joseph went up, all the elder men of the house of Pharaoh went with him, and all the greater men in birth of the land of Egypt; (And when Joseph went up, all the elders of Pharaoh's household, and all the men of great age, that is, the elders, of the land of Egypt, went up with him;)
8 (and all) the house of Joseph with their brethren, (but) without (the) little children, and flocks, and great beasts, which they left in the land of Goshen, went with him. (and all of Joseph's household, and his brothers, went with him, but not their little children, or their flocks, or their great beasts, which they left in the land of Goshen.)
9 And he had chariots, and horsemen, and (his) fellowship (with him), and the company was made not little.
10 And they came to the cornfloor of Atad, which is set over Jordan, where they made the service of the dead body, with great wailing and strong, and filled seven days. (And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is on the east side of the Jordan River, where they held a service for the dead man, with much loud wailing, and filled seven days there.)
11 And when the dwellers of the land of Canaan had seen this, they said, This is a (time of) great wailing to the Egyptians; therefore they called the name of that place The wailing of Egypt. (And when the people of the land of Canaan had seen this, they said, This is a time of great wailing, or of great mourning, for the Egyptians; and so they named that place Abelmizraim.)
12 Therefore the sons of Jacob did, as he had commanded to them; (And so Jacob's sons did, as he had commanded them;)
13 and they bare him into the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the double den, which den with the field Abraham had bought of Ephron (the) Hittite, against the face of Mamre, into possession of a sepulchre. (and they carried his body to the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham had bought for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.)

Genesis 50:3-13 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.