Kejadian 49:28--50:3

49:28 These ¹  are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. ² 

49:29 Then he instructed them, ³  “I am about to go ⁴  to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 49:30 It is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. 49:31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. 49:32 The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.” ⁵ 

49:33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went ⁶  to his people.

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph

50:1 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. ⁷  He wept over him and kissed him. 50:2 Joseph instructed the physicians in his service ⁸  to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. 50:3 They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. ⁹  The Egyptians mourned ¹⁰  for him seventy days. ¹¹ 

[49:28]  ¹ tn Heb “All these.”

[49:28]  ² tn Heb “and he blessed them, each of whom according to his blessing, he blessed them.”

[49:29]  ³ tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to them,” which is not included in the translation because it is redundant in English.

[49:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “I am about to be gathered” The participle is used here to describe what is imminent.

[49:32]  ⁵ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

[49:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “was gathered.”

[50:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “his servants the physicians.”

[50:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “and forty days were fulfilled for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming.”

[50:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wept.”

[50:3]  ¹¹ sn Seventy days. This probably refers to a time of national mourning.