Genesis 50
Joseph dies at 110 and is embalmed in Egypt.
GenesisChapter 50 of 5026 versesBerean Standard Bible
In this passage: JosephIsraelPharaohEgyptCanaan
Read Genesis 50 and keep notes on it in Doxa's Daily Faith Steps.
Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.
And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,
taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47: What does gathered to his people mean in Hebrew?
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that
my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”
Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Egypt—
along with all of Joseph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.
Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession.
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.
So Jacob’s sons did as he had charged them.
They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 42: How did Israel first hear Genesis 23?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47: What does gathered to his people mean in Hebrew?
After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”
So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded,
‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?
As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
God intended it for good — God works all things together for good
“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
Read Romans 8:28›Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.
Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110.
He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 37: What does it mean that the LORD attended to Sarah?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 39: Why does swearing an oath sound like seven in Genesis 21?
And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 37: What does it mean that the LORD attended to Sarah?
So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.
Read next
How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for BelieversScripture is the record of a God who speaks. This guide covers how to hear Him today and keep what He says.Cross-references for Genesis 50
“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
“It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.”
“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.”
“Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.”
“And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.”
Cross-references from OpenBible.info, licensed CC BY.
Genesis 50 on Doxa
- 'Gathered to His People' Came Before the Burial (Genesis 25:1–11) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47
- Cave of Machpelah: Why Abraham Paid 400 Shekels for a Tomb · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 42
- Why Israel Heard Its Own Exodus in Isaac's Birth (Genesis 21) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 37
- El Olam: Why God Was First Called Eternal at a Disputed Well (Genesis 21) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 39
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