A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 50
Genesis 50 is the fiftieth and final chapter of the first book of the Bible. The 26-verse chapter records the death and burial of Jacob and concludes the long story of Joseph with one of the most famous statements of forgiveness in the Bible.
The chapter opens with Jacob's death at the end of Genesis 49. Joseph throws himself on his father, weeping over him and kissing him. He orders the Egyptian physicians to embalm his father, a process that takes forty days. The Egyptians mourn Jacob for seventy days.
When the period of mourning ends, Joseph asks Pharaoh for permission to bury his father in Canaan, as Jacob had requested. Pharaoh grants permission. A large procession travels from Egypt to Canaan: Joseph, his brothers, his father's household, the officials of Pharaoh's court, the elders of Egypt, chariots, and horsemen. They mourn at a threshing floor near the Jordan for seven days. The Canaanites notice and name the place Abel-mizraim, meaning "the mourning of the Egyptians." Joseph's sons carry Jacob to the cave of Machpelah in the field Abraham bought from the Hittites, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are already buried.
After the burial, the brothers worry. They had sold Joseph into slavery decades earlier. They fear that now their father is dead, Joseph will finally take revenge. They send him a message claiming Jacob had instructed Joseph to forgive them. They also come and throw themselves before him, offering to be his slaves.
Joseph weeps. His reply contains the famous line: "Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, to accomplish a day like this, to preserve the lives of many people."
The chapter closes with Joseph's own death at age 110. He tells his brothers that God will surely visit them and bring them up out of Egypt to the land he promised. He asks them to carry his bones with them when they go. They embalm him and place him in a coffin in Egypt, where the book of Genesis ends.
Verse 1. Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.
Verse 2. And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,
Verse 3. taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
Verse 4. When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that
Verse 5. my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”
Verse 6. Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
Verse 7. Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt—
Verse 8. along with all of Joseph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.
Verse 9. Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession.
Verse 10. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
Verse 11. When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.
Verse 12. So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them.
Verse 13. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
Verse 14. After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
Verse 15. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”
Verse 16. So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded,
Verse 17. ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
Verse 18. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
Verse 19. But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
Verse 20. As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Verse 21. Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.
Verse 22. Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110.
Verse 23. He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Verse 24. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Verse 25. And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
Verse 26. So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.
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