Genesis 50 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Circa 1700 BC (Late Bronze Age, patriarchal period)
Location
Egypt (primarily Goshen) and Canaan (cave of Machpelah near Hebron)
Audience
The Israelites during the time of Moses (circa 1446 BC, as part of the Torah)
Situation
Following Jacob's death at age 147, his body is embalmed in Egypt and mourned for 70 days before being buried in the ancestral tomb at Machpelah in Canaan; Joseph then reassures his fearful brothers and later dies, requesting his bones be taken to Canaan when God delivers Israel.
Key Background
Genesis 50 concludes the Joseph narrative and the book of Genesis, emphasizing family reconciliation, God's faithfulness despite human frailty, and the preservation of Jacob's descendants in Egypt. The embalming and mourning periods align with Second Intermediate Period Egyptian customs, illustrating the Hebrews' privileged yet distinct status as Pharaoh's guests. Joseph's final oath about his bones prophesies the future Exodus, connecting patriarchal promises to the nation's destiny in the Promised Land.
Joseph crying over him and kissing him.
Joseph ordered his servants -- the -- to his father. So the embalmed
It took a full because that's how long embalming takes. And the Egyptians mourned him for
When the mourning period was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's court officials: "If I've with you, please bring this message to Pharaoh for me:
My father me an He said, 'I'm about to die. Bury me in the I out for myself in the land of So please let me go up and bury my father, and then I'll come back."
Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do."
So Joseph went up to bury father, and all of Pharaoh's officials went with him -- the of and all the leaders of Egypt --
along with everyone in Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. They only left behind their young children, their flocks, and their herds in the region of
Chariots and horsemen went up with him too. It was an
When they arrived at the of which is across the Jordan, they held a massive, deeply intense time of there. Joseph observed of for his father.
When the who lived in the area saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a profound time of mourning for the Egyptians." That's why the place was named -- it's across the Jordan.
So Jacob's sons did exactly what their father had commanded them.
His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of -- the field near Mamre that Abraham had bought from Ephron the as a
After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt -- he, his brothers, and everyone who had gone up with him for the burial.
When Joseph's brothers realized their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph a against us? What if he us for all the terrible things we did to him?"
So they sent a message to Joseph: "Before your father died, he gave us these instructions:
'This is what you should say to Joseph: Please, I'm begging you, what brothers did -- their and the terrible way they treated you.' So now, please the of the servants of Joseph down when they delivered this message to him.
Then his brothers themselves came and down in of They said, "Look -- we're your
But Joseph told them, be Am I in the of
You to me, but it for -- to bring about what's happening right now: the of
So don't be afraid. I'll of you and your children." And he reassured them and to them.
Joseph stayed in Egypt -- he and his father's family. Joseph lived to be a and
Joseph lived to see Ephraim's grandchildren. And the children of son of Manasseh were on when they were born.
Joseph told his brothers, "I'm about to die. But will for you and bring you up out of this land to the land he to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Then Joseph the of an oath: "When God comes through for you, you must my up from here."
Joseph died at a hundred and ten years old. They him and placed him in a in