Genesis 50:1-26

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph

50:1 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. ¹  He wept over him and kissed him. 50:2 Joseph instructed the physicians in his service ²  to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 50:3 They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. ³  The Egyptians mourned ⁴  for him seventy days. ⁵ 

50:4 When the days of mourning ⁶  had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s royal court, ⁷  “If I have found favor in your sight, please say to Pharaoh, ⁸  50:5 ‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ⁹  “I am about to die. Bury me ¹⁰  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’” 50:6 So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do.” ¹¹ 

50:7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; all Pharaoh’s officials went with him – the senior courtiers ¹²  of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt, 50:8 all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. 50:9 Chariots and horsemen also went up with him, so it was a very large entourage. ¹³ 

50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad ¹⁴  on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. ¹⁵  There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father. 50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ¹⁶  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ¹⁷  Abel Mizraim, ¹⁸  which is beyond the Jordan.

50:12 So the sons of Jacob did for him just as he had instructed them. 50:13 His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the field Abraham purchased as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. 50:14 After he buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, along with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to bury his father.

50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay ¹⁹  us in full ²⁰  for all the harm ²¹  we did to him?” 50:16 So they sent word ²²  to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave these instructions before he died: 50:17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. ²³  50:18 Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.” 50:19 But Joseph answered them, “Don’t be afraid. Am ²⁴  I in the place of God? 50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ²⁵  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ²⁶  50:21 So now, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little children.” Then he consoled them and spoke kindly ²⁷  to them.

50:22 Joseph lived in Egypt, along with his father’s family. ²⁸  Joseph lived 110 years. 50:23 Joseph saw the descendants of Ephraim to the third generation. ²⁹  He also saw the children of Makir the son of Manasseh; they were given special inheritance rights by Joseph. ³⁰ 

50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to you ³¹  and lead you up from this land to the land he swore on oath to give ³²  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 50:25 Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, “God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place.” 50:26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. ³³  After they embalmed him, his body ³⁴  was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Genesis 9:20

9:20 Noah, a man of the soil, ³⁵  began to plant a vineyard. ³⁶ 

Exodus 6:25

6:25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the fathers’ households ³⁷  of Levi according to their clans.

Numbers 25:6-11

25:6 Just then ³⁸  one of the Israelites came and brought to his brothers ³⁹  a Midianite woman in the plain view of Moses and of ⁴⁰  the whole community of the Israelites, while they ⁴¹  were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, ⁴²  he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, 25:8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent ⁴³  and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. ⁴⁴  So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. ⁴⁵  25:9 Those that died in the plague were 24,000.

The Aftermath

25:10 The Lord spoke to Moses: 25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal ⁴⁶  for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. ⁴⁷ 

Numbers 25:13

25:13 So it will be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of a permanent priesthood, because he has been zealous for his God, ⁴⁸  and has made atonement ⁴⁹  for the Israelites.’”

Numbers 31:6

Campaign Against the Midianites

31:6 So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge ⁵⁰  of the holy articles ⁵¹  and the signal trumpets.

Joshua 22:13

22:13 The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Joshua 22:30-32

22:30 When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ⁵²  they were satisfied. ⁵³  22:31 Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the Manassehites, ⁵⁴  “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this. ⁵⁵  Now ⁵⁶  you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.” ⁵⁷ 

22:32 Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead and reported back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. ⁵⁸ 

Joshua 24:33

24:33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, where his son Phinehas had been assigned land. ⁵⁹ 

Jude 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Jude, ⁶⁰  a slave ⁶¹  of Jesus Christ and brother of James, ⁶²  to those who are called, wrapped in the love of ⁶³  God the Father and kept for ⁶⁴  Jesus Christ.

Ezra 8:2

8:2 from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;

from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;

from the descendants of David, Hattush

Psalms 106:30-31

106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, ⁶⁵ 

and the plague subsided.

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift. ⁶⁶ 

[50:1]  ¹ tn Heb “fell on.” The expression describes Joseph’s unrestrained sorrow over Jacob’s death; he probably threw himself across the body and embraced his father.

[50:2]  ² tn Heb “his servants the physicians.”

[50:3]  ³ tn Heb “and forty days were fulfilled for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming.”

[50:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “wept.”

[50:3]  ⁵ sn Seventy days. This probably refers to a time of national mourning.

[50:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “weeping.”

[50:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the house of Pharaoh.”

[50:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the ears of Pharaoh.”

[50:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “saying.”

[50:5]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.

[50:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he made you swear on oath.”

[50:7]  ¹² tn Or “dignitaries”; Heb “elders.”

[50:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “camp.”

[50:10]  ¹⁴ sn The location of the threshing floor of Atad is not certain. The expression the other side of the Jordan could refer to the eastern or western bank, depending on one’s perspective. However, it is commonly used in the OT for Transjordan. This would suggest that the entourage came up the Jordan Valley and crossed into the land at Jericho, just as the Israelites would in the time of Joshua.

[50:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they mourned there [with] very great and heavy mourning.” The cognate accusative, as well as the two adjectives and the adverb, emphasize the degree of their sorrow.

[50:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”

[50:11]  ¹⁷ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.

[50:11]  ¹⁸ sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”

[50:15]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.

[50:15]  ²⁰ tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”

[50:15]  ²¹ tn Or “evil.”

[50:16]  ²² tn The verb means “command,” but they would hardly be commanding him. It probably means they sent their father’s instructions to Joseph.

[50:17]  ²³ tn Heb “and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”

[50:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “For am I.”

[50:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[50:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “spoke to their heart.”

[50:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he and the house of his father.”

[50:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “saw Ephraim, the children of the third.”

[50:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they were born on the knees of Joseph.” This expression implies their adoption by Joseph, which meant that they received an inheritance from him.

[50:24]  ³¹ tn The verb פָּקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” i.e., to intervene for blessing or cursing; here Joseph announces that God would come to fulfill the promises by delivering them from Egypt. The statement is emphasized by the use of the infinitive absolute with the verb: “God will surely visit you.”

[50:24]  ³² tn The words “to give” are supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[50:26]  ³³ tn Heb “son of a hundred and ten years.”

[50:26]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he.”

[9:20]  ³⁵ sn The epithet a man of the soil indicates that Noah was a farmer.

[9:20]  ³⁶ tn Or “Noah, a man of the soil, was the first to plant a vineyard”; Heb “and Noah, a man of the ground, began and he planted a vineyard.”

[6:25]  ³⁷ tn Heb “heads of the fathers” is taken as an abbreviation for the description of “households” in v. 14.

[25:6]  ³⁸ tn The verse begins with the deictic particle וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh), pointing out the action that was taking place. It stresses the immediacy of the action to the reader.

[25:6]  ³⁹ tn Or “to his family”; or “to his clan.”

[25:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of.”

[25:6]  ⁴¹ tn The vav (ו) at the beginning of the clause is a disjunctive because it is prefixed to the nonverbal form. In this context it is best interpreted as a circumstantial clause, stressing that this happened “while” people were weeping over the sin.

[25:7]  ⁴² tn The first clause is subordinated to the second because both begin with the preterite verbal form, and there is clearly a logical and/or chronological sequence involved.

[25:8]  ⁴³ tn The word קֻבָּה (qubbah) seems to refer to the innermost part of the family tent. Some suggest it was in the tabernacle area, but that is unlikely. S. C. Reif argues for a private tent shrine (“What Enraged Phinehas? A Study of Numbers 25:8,” JBL 90 [1971]: 200-206).

[25:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he thrust the two of them the Israelite man and the woman to her belly [lower abdomen].” Reif notes the similarity of the word with the previous “inner tent,” and suggests that it means Phinehas stabbed her in her shrine tent, where she was being set up as some sort of priestess or cult leader. Phinehas put a quick end to their sexual immorality while they were in the act.

[25:8]  ⁴⁵ sn Phinehas saw all this as part of the pagan sexual ritual that was defiling the camp. He had seen that the Lord himself had had the guilty put to death. And there was already some plague breaking out in the camp that had to be stopped. And so in his zeal he dramatically put an end to this incident, that served to stop the rest and end the plague.

[25:11]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “he was zealous with my zeal.” The repetition of forms for “zeal” in the line stresses the passion of Phinehas. The word “zeal” means a passionate intensity to protect or preserve divine or social institutions.

[25:11]  ⁴⁷ tn The word for “zeal” now occurs a third time. While some English versions translate this word here as “jealousy” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), it carries the force of God’s passionate determination to defend his rights and what is right about the covenant and the community and parallels the “zeal” that Phinehas had just demonstrated.

[25:13]  ⁴⁸ tn The motif is reiterated here. Phinehas was passionately determined to maintain the rights of his God by stopping the gross sinful perversions.

[25:13]  ⁴⁹ sn The atonement that he made in this passage refers to the killing of the two obviously blatant sinners. By doing this he dispensed with any animal sacrifice, for the sinners themselves died. In Leviticus it was the life of the substitutionary animal that was taken in place of the sinners that made atonement. The point is that sin was punished by death, and so God was free to end the plague and pardon the people. God’s holiness and righteousness have always been every bit as important as God’s mercy and compassion, for without righteousness and holiness mercy and compassion mean nothing.

[31:6]  ⁵⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the idiom that these “were in his hand,” meaning that he had the responsibility over them.

[31:6]  ⁵¹ sn It is not clear what articles from the sanctuary were included. Tg. Ps.-J. adds (interpretively) “the Urim and Thummim.”

[22:30]  ⁵² tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”

[22:30]  ⁵³ tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”

[22:31]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”

[22:31]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “because you were not unfaithful with this unfaithfulness against the Lord.”

[22:31]  ⁵⁶ tn On the use of אָז in a logical sense, see Waltke-O’Connor, Hebrew Syntax, 667.

[22:31]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the hand (i.e., power) of the Lord.”

[22:32]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and Phinehas…returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel. And they brought back to them a word.”

[24:33]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “in Gibeah of Phinehas, his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.”

[1:1]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “Judas,” traditionally “Jude” in English versions to distinguish him from the one who betrayed Jesus. The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁶¹ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). At the same time, perhaps “servant” is apt in that the δοῦλος of Jesus Christ took on that role voluntarily, unlike a slave. The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁶² sn Although Jude was half-brother of Jesus, he humbly associates himself with James, his full brother. By first calling himself a slave of Jesus Christ, it is evident that he wants no one to place stock in his physical connections. At the same time, he must identify himself further: Since Jude was a common name in the 1st century (two of Jesus’ disciples were so named, including his betrayer), more information was needed, that is to say, brother of James.

[1:1]  ⁶³ tn Grk “loved in.” The perfect passive participle suggests that the audience’s relationship to God is not recent; the preposition ἐν (en) before πατρί (patri) could be taken as sphere or instrument (agency is unlikely, however). Another possible translation would be “dear to God.”

[1:1]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “by.” Datives of agency are quite rare in the NT (and other ancient Greek), almost always found with a perfect verb. Although this text qualifies, in light of the well-worn idiom of τηρέω (threw) in eschatological contexts, in which God or Christ keeps the believer safe until the parousia (cf. 1 Thess 5:23; 1 Pet 1:4; Rev 3:10; other terms meaning “to guard,” “to keep” are also found in similar eschatological contexts [cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; Jude 24]), it is probably better to understand this verse as having such an eschatological tinge. It is at the same time possible that Jude’s language was intentionally ambiguous, implying both ideas (“kept by Jesus Christ [so that they might be] kept for Jesus Christ”). Elsewhere he displays a certain fondness for wordplays; this may be a hint of things to come.

[106:30]  ⁶⁵ sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.

[106:31]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.