Genesis Chapter 50

At a Glance

  • Genesis 50 culminates the Genesis narrative with the death of Jacob and the death and burial of Joseph.
  • Genesis 50 marks the final act of the Genesis narrative, bridging the patriarchal years with the Exodus story to come.
  • - Divine Providence Through Suffering: God’s plan prevails through deception and hardship.
  • - Memory, Faith, and Deliverance: Remembering God’s acts as a motive for courage in the future.
  • - Leadership and Authority Across Generations: Joseph’s continued care for his family in exile.

Genesis 50 culminates the Genesis narrative with the death of Jacob and the death and burial of Joseph. It begins with the deathbed tenderness as Joseph mourns his father and commands embalming in the Egyptian custom, signaling his acceptance of his homeland’s realities while remaining faithful to the God of Israel. Pharaoh and Egypt honor Jacob’s departure with a grand procession and mourning. After Jacob’s burial in the Cave of Machpelah, the narrative returns to Joseph’s own closing acts: he reassures his brothers, interprets their lingering fears as a concern for retribution, and offers a blessing that sustains them. The famous sentiment, “You intended harm, but God intended it for good” (implied in the broader Joseph narrative), resonates here as Joseph reassures his brothers that God’s providence has preserved the family for a purpose beyond immediate grievance. The chapter closes with Joseph’s death, his burial in Goshen, and a note about the future exodus—one last reminder that God’s people must remember their deliverance and rely on God’s faithfulness beyond the present moment.

Genesis 50 marks the final act of the Genesis narrative, bridging the patriarchal years with the Exodus story to come. The death of Jacob is the end of an era, and Joseph’s ascent to leadership provides continuity of divine purpose through generations. The embalming and mourning rites reflect Egyptian customs, but the narrative purpose remains theological: to show God’s sovereignty in guiding a family through death, exile, and eventual deliverance. The literary structure—reminiscence, blessing, lament, and ultimate faith in God—frames the entire Genesis arc as a preparation for the birth of a nation and its future redemption.

- Divine Providence Through Suffering: God’s plan prevails through deception and hardship.

- Memory, Faith, and Deliverance: Remembering God’s acts as a motive for courage in the future.

- Leadership and Authority Across Generations: Joseph’s continued care for his family in exile.

- Mortality and Hope: Deaths within the family become moments to reassert faith in God’s promises.

- The Power of Blessing: Joseph’s blessings continue to shape the future of the tribes.

Genesis 50 invites readers to hold onto faith in God’s overarching plan even when personal sorrow and historical pain run deep. It blesses a legacy of resilience: honoring loved ones, stewarding resources wisely, and remaining faithful in foreign lands. The text encourages circumspect leadership that acts with integrity, generosity, and concern for family welfare, rather than vengeance or fear. It also reinforces the importance of memory in faith communities: telling the story of deliverance so future generations remember God’s faithfulness even through hardship. For readers today, this chapter offers a model of reconciliation: forgiveness among siblings, trust in God’s sovereignty, and a forward-looking hope anchored in God’s promises.

- Genesis 45 (reconciliation and providence)

- Exodus 12 (the future exodus and memory)

- Psalm 105:8-11 (God’s steadfast promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)

- Joseph (for steadfast faithfulness in exile and care for family)

- Jacob/Israel (for faith in God’s promises across generations)

- Moses (for leadership formation and future deliverance)

Key Themes

Divine Providence Through Suffering: God’s plan prevails through deception and hardship.Memory, Faith, and Deliverance: Remembering God’s acts as a motive for courage in the future.Leadership and Authority Across Generations: Joseph’s continued care for his family in exile.Mortality and Hope: Deaths within the family become moments to reassert faith in God’s promises.

Chapter Text

1

And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

2

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.

3

And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.

4

And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

5

My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

6

And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

7

And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

8

And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

9

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

10

And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

11

And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.

12

And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:

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 for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

14

And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15

And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

16

And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

17

So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

18

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

19

And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

20

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

21

Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

22

And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

23

And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

24

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25

And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26

So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Discuss This Chapter with Biblical Personas

Explore Genesis Chapter 50 with Biblical figures who can provide unique perspectives grounded in Scripture.

Ask Apostle PaulAsk MosesAsk King DavidAsk Jesus Christ
← Genesis 49Exodus 1 →