Genesis 50

Jacob’s Burial

1 When Jacob died, Joseph hugged his father and cried over him and kissed him.2 He commanded the doctors who served him to prepare his father’s body, so the doctors prepared Jacob’s body to be buried.3 It took the doctors forty days to prepare his body (the usual time it took). And the Egyptians had a time of sorrow for Jacob that lasted seventy days.

4 
When this time of sorrow had ended, Joseph spoke to the king’s officers and said, “If you think well of me, please tell this to the king:5 ‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan, in a burial place that he cut out for himself. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will return.’ ”

6 
The king answered, “Keep your promise. Go and bury your father.”

7 
So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king’s officers, the elders of his court, and all the elders of Egypt went with Joseph.8 Everyone who lived with Joseph and his brothers went with him, as well as everyone who lived with his father. They left only their children, their flocks, and their herds in the land of Goshen.9 They went with Joseph in chariots and on horses. It was a very large group.10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they cried loudly and bitterly for his father. Joseph’s time of sorrow continued for seven days.11 The people that lived in Canaan saw the sadness at the threshing floor of Atad and said, “Those Egyptians are showing great sorrow!” So now that place is named Sorrow of the Egyptians.12 So Jacob’s sons did as their father commanded.13 They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried it in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre. Abraham had bought this cave and field from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burial place.14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt, along with his brothers and everyone who had gone with him to bury his father.

The Brothers Fear Joseph

15 After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph is still angry with us? We did many wrong things to him. What if he plans to pay us back?”16 So they sent a message to Joseph that said, “Your father gave this command before he died.17 He said to us, ‘You have done wrong and have sinned and done evil to Joseph. Tell Joseph to forgive you, his brothers.’ So now, Joseph, we beg you to forgive our wrong. We are the servants of the God of your father.” When Joseph received the message, he cried.18 And his brothers went to him and bowed low before him and said, “We are your slaves.”19 Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Can I do what only God can do?20 You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done.21 So don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” So Joseph comforted his brothers and spoke kind words to them.

22 
Joseph continued to live in Egypt with all his father’s family. He died when he was one hundred ten years old.23 During Joseph’s life Ephraim had children and grandchildren, and Joseph’s son Manasseh had a son named Makir. Joseph accepted Makir’s children as his own.

The Death of Joseph

24 

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will take care of you. He will lead you out of this land to the land he promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”25 Then Joseph had the sons of Israel make a promise. He said, “Promise me that you will carry my bones with you out of Egypt.”

26 
Joseph died when he was one hundred ten years old. Doctors prepared his body for burial, and then they put him in a coffin in Egypt.

Exodus 1

Jacob’s Family Grows Strong

1 When Jacob went to Egypt, he took his sons, and each son took his own family with him. These are the names of the sons of Israel:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.5 There was a total of seventy people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob’s son Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 
Some time later, Joseph and his brothers died, along with all the people who had lived at that same time.7 But the people of Israel had many children, and their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and the country of Egypt was filled with them.

Trouble for the People of Israel

8 

Then a new king began to rule Egypt, who did not know who Joseph was.9 This king said to his people, “Look! The people of Israel are too many and too strong for us to handle!10 If we don’t make plans against them, the number of their people will grow even more. Then if there is a war, they might join our enemies and fight us and escape from the country!”11 So the Egyptians made life hard for the Israelites. They put slave masters over them, who forced the Israelites to build the cities Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.12 But the harder the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work, the more the Israelites grew in number and spread out. So the Egyptians became very afraid of them13 and demanded even more of them.14 They made their lives bitter. They forced the Israelites to work hard to make bricks and mortar and to do all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were not merciful to them in all their painful work.15 Two Hebrew nurses, named Shiphrah and Puah, helped the Israelite women give birth to their babies. The king of Egypt said to the nurses,16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!”17 But the nurses feared God, so they did not do as the king told them; they let all the boy babies live.18 Then the king of Egypt sent for the nurses and said, “Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?”19 The nurses said to him, “The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there.”20 God was good to the nurses. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even stronger.21 Because the nurses feared God, he gave them families of their own.

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So the king commanded all his people, “Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live.”

Exodus 2

Baby Moses

1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a woman who was also from the family of Levi.2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw how wonderful the baby was, she hid him for three months.3 But after three months she was not able to hide the baby any longer, so she got a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar so that it would float. She put the baby in the basket. Then she put the basket among the tall stalks of grass at the edge of the Nile River.4 The baby’s sister stood a short distance away to see what would happen to him.

5 
Then the daughter of the king of Egypt came to the river to take a bath, and her servant girls were walking beside the river. When she saw the basket in the tall grass, she sent her slave girl to get it.6 The king’s daughter opened the basket and saw the baby boy. He was crying, so she felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew babies.”

7 
Then the baby’s sister asked the king’s daughter, “Would you like me to go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”

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The king’s daughter said, “Go!” So the girl went and got the baby’s own mother.

9 
The king’s daughter said to the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took her baby and nursed him.10 When the child grew older, the woman took him to the king’s daughter, and she adopted the baby as her own son. The king’s daughter named him Moses, because she had pulled him out of the water.

Moses Tries to Help

11 Moses grew and became a man. One day he visited his people and saw that they were forced to work very hard. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, one of Moses’ own people.12 Moses looked all around and saw that no one was watching, so he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.13 The next day Moses returned and saw two Hebrew men fighting each other. He said to the one that was in the wrong, “Why are you hitting one of your own people?”14 The man answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”Moses was afraid and thought, “Now everyone knows what I did.”15 When the king heard what Moses had done, he tried to kill him. But Moses ran away from the king and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down near a well.

Moses in Midian

16 There was a priest in Midian who had seven daughters. His daughters went to that well to get water to fill the water troughs for their father’s flock.17 Some shepherds came and chased the girls away, but Moses defended the girls and watered their flock.18 When they went back to their father Reuel, he asked them, “Why have you come home early today?”19 The girls answered, “The shepherds chased us away, but an Egyptian defended us. He got water for us and watered our flock.”

20 
He asked his daughters, “Where is this man? Why did you leave him? Invite him to eat with us.”

21 
Moses agreed to stay with Jethro, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses to be his wife.22 Zipporah gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom, because Moses was a stranger in a land that was not his own.

23 
After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned, because they were forced to work very hard. When they cried for help, God heard them.24 God heard their cries, and he remembered the agreement he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.25 He saw the troubles of the people of Israel, and he was concerned about them.