Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Genesis 50 :: New International Version (NIV)

Gen 50:1Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.
Gen 50:2Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,
Gen 50:3taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
Gen 50:4When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him,
Gen 50:5‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’ ”
Gen 50:6Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
Gen 50:7So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—
Gen 50:8besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.
Gen 50:9Chariots and horsemen[fn] also went up with him. It was a very large company.
Gen 50:10When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father.
Gen 50:11When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.[fn]
Gen 50:12So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:
Gen 50:13They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.
Gen 50:14After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

Gen 50:15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”
Gen 50:16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:
Gen 50:17‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
Gen 50:18His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
Gen 50:19But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Gen 50:21So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

Gen 50:22Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years
Gen 50:23and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.[fn]
Gen 50:24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Gen 50:25And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
Gen 50:26So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
NIV Footnotes
Or charioteers
Abel Mizraim means mourning of the Egyptians.
That is, were counted as his
Translation Copyright Logo

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

Genesis Chapter 50 — Additional Translations: