Genesis · Bible in Basic English
Genesis 50 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him.
1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.
2 And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so.
2 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days.
3 Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh:
4 When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again.
5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him.
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”
7 So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt,
7 Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen.
8 all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army.
9 Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company.
10 And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days.
10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.
11 And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan.
11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 So his sons did as he had given them orders to do:
12 His sons did to him just as he commanded them,
13 For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre.
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, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.
14 And when his father had been put to rest, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone with him, went back to Egypt.
14 Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 Now after the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said to themselves, It may be that Joseph's heart will be turned against us, and he will give us punishment for all the evil which we did to him.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.”
16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, Your father, before his death, gave us orders, saying,
16 They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17 You are to say to Joseph, Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked, and the evil they did to you: now, if it is your pleasure, let the sin of the servants of your father's God have forgiveness. And at these words, Joseph was overcome with weeping.
17 ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers went, and falling at his feet, said, Truly, we are your servants.
18 His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 And Joseph said, Have no fear: am I in the place of God?
19 Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20 As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil, but God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today.
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.
21 So now, have no fear: for I will take care of you and your little ones. So he gave them comfort with kind words.
21 Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
22 Now Joseph and all his father's family went on living in Egypt: and the years of Joseph's life were a hundred and ten.
22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, came to birth on Joseph's knees.
23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly give effect to his word, and you are to take my bones away from here.
25 Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
26 So Joseph came to his death, being a hundred and ten years old: and they made his body ready, and he was put in a chest in Egypt.
26 So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Joseph
Betrayed and enslaved, he rose to rule Egypt and saved his family from famine.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 37; 39–50
Machir
Manasseh's son, whose own sons were brought up on Joseph's knees, called the father of Gilead; his descendants captured Gilead and Moses gave it to his clan.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 50:23; Numbers 26:29; Numbers 32:39–40
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 46:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; Ephesians 6:4; Acts 8:2; Genesis 23:2
- 2 2 Chronicles 16:14; Genesis 50:26; John 19:39–40; Mark 16:1; Matthew 26:12
- 3 Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8; Genesis 50:10; Deuteronomy 21:13
- 4 Genesis 18:3; Esther 4:2
- 5 2 Chronicles 16:14; Isaiah 22:16; Matthew 27:60; Genesis 47:29–31; Genesis 3:19
- 6 Genesis 48:21
- 7 Genesis 14:16
- 8 Numbers 32:24–27; Exodus 10:8–9; Exodus 10:26
- 9 Song of Songs 1:9; Exodus 14:17; Genesis 46:29; Acts 8:2; Exodus 14:28
- 10 Job 2:13; Acts 8:2; 2 Samuel 1:17; 1 Samuel 31:13; Numbers 19:11
- 11 Genesis 24:6; Genesis 10:15–19; Deuteronomy 11:30; Genesis 50:10; Deuteronomy 3:27
- 12 Acts 7:16; Genesis 49:29–32; Ephesians 6:1; Exodus 20:12; Genesis 47:29–31
- 13 Genesis 23:16–18; Acts 7:16; Genesis 49:29–31; Genesis 35:27; Genesis 23:20
- 15 Proverbs 28:1; Genesis 42:21–22; Psalm 14:5; Genesis 27:41–42; Job 15:21–22
- 16 Proverbs 29:25
- 17 Matthew 6:14–15; Ephesians 4:32; Luke 17:3–4; Genesis 45:4–5; Proverbs 28:13
- 18 Genesis 37:7–11; Genesis 44:14; Genesis 45:3; Genesis 27:29; Genesis 42:6
- 19 Romans 12:19; Genesis 30:2; Genesis 45:5; 2 Kings 5:7; Hebrews 10:30
- 20 Romans 8:28; Psalm 119:71; Genesis 45:5–8; Genesis 37:18–20; Psalm 105:16–17
- 21 Genesis 47:12; 1 Peter 3:9; Genesis 45:10–11; Matthew 5:44; Romans 12:20–21
- 23 Numbers 32:39; Job 42:16; Genesis 30:3; Genesis 48:19; Psalm 128:6
- 24 Exodus 3:16–17; Genesis 35:12; Genesis 26:3; Genesis 46:4; Genesis 28:13
- 25 Joshua 24:32; Exodus 13:19; Acts 7:16; Hebrews 11:22; Genesis 47:29–31
- 26 Joshua 24:29; Genesis 50:22; Genesis 47:28; Genesis 47:9; Genesis 50:2–3
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For the same Scripture speaks thus of Joseph: "And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his brethren, and all his father's house: and Joseph lived 110 years, and saw Ephraim's children of the third generation." That is, his great-grandson, the third from Ephraim; for the third generation means son, grandson, great-grandson.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Then it is added, "The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born upon Joseph's knees." And this is that grandson of Manasseh, and great-grandson of Joseph.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)