50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.(A) Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,(B) taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.(C)

When the days of mourning(D) had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court,(E) “If I have found favor in your eyes,(F) speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ‘My father made me swear an oath(G) and said, “I am about to die;(H) bury me in the tomb I dug for myself(I) in the land of Canaan.”(J) Now let me go up and bury my father;(K) then I will return.’”

Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials(L) accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court(M) and all the dignitaries of Egypt— besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household.(N) Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.(O) Chariots(P) and horsemen[a] also went up with him. It was a very large company.

10 When they reached the threshing floor(Q) of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly;(R) and there Joseph observed a seven-day period(S) of mourning(T) for his father.(U) 11 When the Canaanites(V) who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”(W) That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.[b]

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:(X) 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,(Y) near Mamre,(Z) which Abraham had bought along with the field(AA) as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.(AB) 14 After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.(AC)

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge(AD) against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”(AE) 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions(AF) before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins(AG) and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’(AH) Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.(AI)” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.(AJ)

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him.(AK) “We are your slaves,”(AL) they said.

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?(AM) 20 You intended to harm me,(AN) but God intended(AO) it for good(AP) to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.(AQ) 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.(AR)” And he reassured them and spoke kindly(AS) to them.

The Death of Joseph

22 Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years(AT) 23 and saw the third generation(AU) of Ephraim’s(AV) children.(AW) Also the children of Makir(AX) son of Manasseh(AY) were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.[c](AZ)

24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die.(BA) But God will surely come to your aid(BB) and take you up out of this land to the land(BC) he promised on oath to Abraham,(BD) Isaac(BE) and Jacob.”(BF) 25 And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath(BG) and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones(BH) up from this place.”(BI)

26 So Joseph died(BJ) at the age of a hundred and ten.(BK) And after they embalmed him,(BL) he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

The Israelites Oppressed

These are the names of the sons of Israel(BM) who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.(BN) The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy[d] in all;(BO) Joseph was already in Egypt.

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,(BP) but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers(BQ) and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.(BR) “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous(BS) for us.(BT) 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly(BU) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”(BV)

11 So they put slave masters(BW) over them to oppress them with forced labor,(BX) and they built Pithom and Rameses(BY) as store cities(BZ) for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly.(CA) 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor(CB) in brick(CC) and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.(CD)

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives,(CE) whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”(CF) 17 The midwives, however, feared(CG) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do;(CH) they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”(CI)

20 So God was kind to the midwives(CJ) and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared(CK) God, he gave them families(CL) of their own.

22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile,(CM) but let every girl live.”(CN)

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 50:9 Or charioteers
  2. Genesis 50:11 Abel Mizraim means mourning of the Egyptians.
  3. Genesis 50:23 That is, were counted as his
  4. Exodus 1:5 Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five

50 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.

And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:

13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.

24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.