Genesis 50 - Good News Translation (GNT)

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

4 When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, “Please take this message to the king: 5 (A)‘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.’”

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

7 So 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. 8 His 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. 9 Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

10 When 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. 11 When 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.[a]

12 So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them; 13 (B)they 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. 14 After 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

15 After 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?” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died, 17 he 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.

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

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God. 20 You 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. 21 You 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

22 Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died. 23 He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. 24 He 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 (C)Then 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.” 26 So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 50:11 This name sounds like the Hebrew for “mourning of the Egyptians.”

Cross references

  1. Genesis 50:5 : Gen 47:29-Gen 47:31
  2. Genesis 50:13 : Acts 7:16
  3. Genesis 50:25 : Exod 13:19; Josh 24:32; Heb 11:22

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Genesis 50 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

50 And Joseph falleth on his father's face, and weepeth over him, and kisseth him; 2 and Joseph commandeth his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalm Israel; 3 and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep f...
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Genesis 50 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

50 Which thing Joseph saw, and he fell on his father’s face, and wept, and kissed him; 2 and he commanded his servants, (the) leeches, that they should anoint his father with sweet smelling spiceries. (and he commanded the physicians, his servants, to anoint his father with sweet smelling spices.) 3...
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Genesis 50 - World English Bible (WEB)

50 1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were used for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for sevent...
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Genesis 50 - The Voice (VOICE)

50 As his father passed on, Joseph threw himself onto his father’s face, crying and kissing him. 2 Then Joseph told the physicians in his service to embalm his father and prepare him for the journey. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 It took 40 days to embalm him because that’s how long it take...
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Genesis 50 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Lamentation for Jacob50 Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 They took 40 days for him, because that is how long embalming takes, and Egypt wept 70 days. 4 Wh...
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Genesis 50 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; 3 forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy...
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Genesis 50 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; 3 forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy...
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Genesis 50 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

50 Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; 3 they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept f...
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Genesis 50 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

50 Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.(A)2 Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;(B)3 they spent forty days doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept fo...
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Genesis 50 - New Living Translation (NLT)

50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father’s body; so Jacob[a] was embalmed. 3 The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days. 4 When the period o...
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Genesis 50 - New Life Version (NLV)

50 Then Joseph threw himself upon his father, and cried over him and kissed him. 2 Joseph told his servants the doctors to make his father ready to be buried. So the doctors made Israel ready. 3 Forty days were needed for this. For this is how much time it took for making the body ready to be buri...
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Genesis 50 - New King James Version (NKJV)

Burial of Jacob50 Then Joseph (A)fell on his father’s face and (B)wept over him, and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to (C)embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embal...
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Genesis 50 - New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, 3 taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seve...
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Genesis 50 - New International Version (NIV)

50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.(A) 2 Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,(B) 3 taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him ...
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Genesis 50 - New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

50 Joseph threw himself on his father’s body. He wept over him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph talked to the doctors who served him. He told them to prepare the body of his father Israel to be buried. So the doctors prepared it. 3 They took 40 days to do it. They needed that much time to prepare a b...
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Genesis 50 - New English Translation (NET)

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph50 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face.[a] He wept over him and kissed him. 2 Joseph instructed the physicians in his service[b] to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming.[c] The E...
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