Genesis 50:1-3

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 

[50:1]  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.