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 9:1

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Isaiah 57:3-4

57:3 But approach, you sons of omen readers,

you offspring of adulteresses and prostitutes! ³⁵ 

57:4 At whom are you laughing?

At whom are you opening your mouth

and sticking out your tongue?

You are the children of rebels,

the offspring of liars, ³⁶ 

Matthew 3:7

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ³⁷  and Sadducees ³⁸  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Matthew 23:34-36

23:34 “For this reason I ³⁹  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ⁴⁰  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ⁴¹  and some you will flog ⁴²  in your synagogues ⁴³  and pursue from town to town, 23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ⁴⁴  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ⁴⁵  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ⁴⁶ 

Mark 8:38

8:38 For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him ⁴⁷  when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

John 8:44

8:44 You people ⁴⁸  are from ⁴⁹  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ⁵⁰  He ⁵¹  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ⁵²  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ⁵³  he speaks according to his own nature, ⁵⁴  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁵⁵ 

Acts 7:51-52

7:51 “You stubborn ⁵⁶  people, with uncircumcised ⁵⁷  hearts and ears! ⁵⁸  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ⁵⁹  did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ⁶⁰  not persecute? ⁶¹  They ⁶²  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ⁶³  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ⁶⁴ 

[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.”

[57:3]  ³⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “offspring of an adulterer [masculine] and [one who] has committed adultery.” Perhaps the text has suffered from transposition of vav (ו) and tav (ת) and מְנָאֵף וַתִּזְנֶה (mÿna’ef vattizneh) should be emended to מְנָאֶפֶת וְזֹנָה (mÿna’efet vÿzonah, “an adulteress and a prostitute”). Both singular nouns would be understood in a collective sense. Most modern English versions render both forms as nouns.

[57:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of a lie?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course you are!”

[3:7]  ³⁷ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ³⁸ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[23:34]  ³⁹ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[23:34]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ⁴¹ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ⁴² tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ⁴³ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ⁴⁴ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[8:38]  ⁴⁷ sn How one responds now to Jesus and his teaching is a reflection of how Jesus, as the Son of Man who judges, will respond then in the final judgment.

[8:44]  ⁴⁸ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ⁴⁹ tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ⁵² tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”

[7:51]  ⁵⁶ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ⁵⁷ tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ⁶¹ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

[7:52]  ⁶² tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:52]  ⁶³ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[7:52]  ⁶⁴ sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).