Genesis 50

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

1Joseph leaned over his father's face. He cried over him and kissed him.

2And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.

2Joseph told his doctors to get his father's body ready. So they made Israel's body ready to keep for a long time.

NoteTo "embalm" means to treat a dead body so it does not rot. The Egyptians were famous for doing this carefully.

3And 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.

3It took forty days to finish, which was the usual time. The Egyptians were sad and cried for him for seventy days.

4And 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,

4When the sad days were over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh's helpers. He said, "If you like me, please tell Pharaoh this for me."

5My 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.

5"My father made me promise. He said, 'I am going to die. Bury me in the grave I dug for myself in Canaan.' So please let me go bury my father. Then I will come back."

6And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

6Pharaoh said, "Go and bury your father, just as you promised him."

7And 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,

7So Joseph went to bury his father. All of Pharaoh's helpers went with him. The leaders of Pharaoh's house went too, and the leaders of Egypt.

8And 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.

8Everyone in Joseph's house went, and his brothers, and his father's family. Only the small children, the sheep, and the cattle stayed in Goshen.

9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

9Chariots and men on horses went with him too. It was a very large group.

10And 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.

10They came to the flat ground called Atad, across the Jordan River. There they cried loudly with deep sadness. Joseph mourned for his father seven days.

NoteA threshing floor is a hard, flat piece of ground. Farmers used it to separate grain from the dry stalks. It made a good open space for a large crowd.

11And 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.

11The Canaanites who lived there saw the crying at Atad. They said, "The Egyptians are very sad today." So the place was named Abel-mizraim, across the Jordan.

NoteAbel-mizraim means "the sad crying of the Egyptians."

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

12Jacob's sons did just what he had told them to do.

13For 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.

13They carried him to Canaan. They buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham had bought that field from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burying place.

14And 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.

14After the burial, Joseph went back to Egypt. His brothers went too, and everyone else who had come along.

15And 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.

15Joseph's brothers knew their father was dead. They said, "What if Joseph still hates us? He might pay us back for the bad things we did to him."

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

16So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, "Before your father died, he told us something."

17So 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.

17"He said, 'Tell Joseph this: Please forgive your brothers for the wrong they did to you.' So please forgive us. We serve the same God your father served." When Joseph heard this, he cried.

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

18Then his brothers came and bowed low in front of him. They said, "Look, we will be your servants."

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

19Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid. I am not God. It is not my place to punish you."

20But 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.

20"You wanted to hurt me. But God turned it into something good. He did it to keep many people alive, just like today."

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

21"So do not be afraid. I will feed you and your little children." Joseph comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

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

22Joseph stayed in Egypt with his father's family. Joseph lived to be one hundred and ten years old.

23And 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.

23Joseph saw Ephraim's children, and their children's children. He also held the children of Machir on his knees. Machir was the son of Manasseh.

24And 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.

24Joseph said to his brothers, "I am going to die soon. But God will surely come and help you. He will take you out of this land. He will bring you to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Note"Visit" here does not mean a short trip. It means God will come and act to help them.

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

25Joseph made the sons of Israel promise something. He said, "God will surely come and help you. When he does, carry my bones away from here."

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

26So Joseph died at one hundred and ten years old. They made his body ready to keep, and put it in a coffin in Egypt.