Genesis 50:3
New International Version
taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

New Living Translation
The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.

English Standard Version
Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

Berean Standard Bible
taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

New American Standard Bible
Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

NASB 1995
Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

NASB 1977
Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the forty days to do this were fulfilled, because in this manner the days of embalming are fulfilled. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

Amplified Bible
Now forty days were required for this, for that is the customary number of days [of preparation] required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept and grieved for him [in public mourning as they would for royalty] for seventy days.

Christian Standard Bible
They took forty days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

American Standard Version
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him three-score and ten days.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And forty days were fulfilled to him, because thus the days of embalmment are completed, and the Egyptians mourned him seventy days.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And they fulfilled forty days for him, for so are the days of embalming numbered; and Egypt mourned for him seventy days.

Contemporary English Version
and it took the usual 40 days. The Egyptians mourned 70 days for Jacob.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And while they were fulfilling his commands, there passed forty days: for this was the manner with bodies that were embalmed, and Egypt mounted for him seventy days.

English Revised Version
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The embalming was completed in the usual time-40 days. The Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

Good News Translation
It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

International Standard Version
It took 40 days to complete the process, the normal period required for embalming. Meanwhile, the Egyptians mourned for him for 70 days.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days.

Literal Standard Version
and they fulfill for him forty days, for so they fulfill the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.

Majority Standard Bible
taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

New American Bible
they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.

NET Bible
They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

New Revised Standard Version
they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

New Heart English Bible
Forty days were required for it, for that is how many the days it takes for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days.

Webster's Bible Translation
And forty days were fulfilled for him; (for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed:) and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

World English Bible
Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.

Young's Literal Translation
and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Mourning and Burial for Jacob
2And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him, 3taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 4When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that…

Cross References
Genesis 50:4
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that

Genesis 50:10
When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.

Numbers 20:29
When the whole congregation saw that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

Deuteronomy 34:8
The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end.


Treasury of Scripture

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

forty days.

mourned.

Numbers 20:29
And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

Deuteronomy 21:13
And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.

Deuteronomy 34:8
And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

Jump to Previous
Body Egyptians Embalm Embalmed Embalming Forty Fulfil Fulfilled Full Making Mourned Needed Period Ready Required Seventy Ten Threescore Three-Score Time Weep Weeping Wept
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Body Egyptians Embalm Embalmed Embalming Forty Fulfil Fulfilled Full Making Mourned Needed Period Ready Required Seventy Ten Threescore Three-Score Time Weep Weeping Wept
Genesis 50
1. The mourning for Jacob.
4. Joseph gets leave of Pharaoh to go to bury him.
7. The funeral.
15. Joseph comforts his brothers, who crave his pardon.
22. His age.
23. He sees the third generation of his sons.
24. He prophesies unto his brothers of their return.
25. He takes an oath of them concerning his bones.
26. He dies, and is put into a coffin.














(3) Forty days.--Herodotus (ii. 86) describes the process of embalming as occupying seventy days, but he was speaking of what he saw at Thebes, whereas Memphis was the Egyptian capital in Joseph's time; and the mummies of Thebes are, we are told, far more perfectly preserved than those of Memphis. Diodorus agrees very nearly with the periods mentioned here, saying (i. 91) that the embalming took somewhat more than thirty days, and the mourning for a king seventy-two. The usual period of mourning among the Israelites was thirty days (Numbers 20:29 : Deuteronomy 34:8). Probably, therefore, the forty days spent in the embalming were included in the "threescore and ten days," during which the Egyptians mourned for Jacob.

Verse 3. - And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned (literally, wept) for him threescore and ten days - i.e. the whole period of mourning, including the forty days for embalming, extended to seventy days, a statement which strikingly coincides with the assertion of Diodorus Siculus (1:72), that the embalming process occupied about thirty days, while the mourning continued seventy-two days; the first number, seventy, being seven decades, or ten weeks of seven days, and the second 12 x 6 = 72, the duodecimal calculation being also used in Egypt (vide Wilkinson in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2. p. 121; and in ' Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians: vol. 3. p. 471, et seqq., ed. 1878). The apparent discrepancy between the accounts of Genesis and Herodotus will disappear if the seventy days of the Greek historian, during which the body lay in antrum, be viewed as the entire period of mourning (Hengstenberg's 'Egypt and the Books of Moses,' p. 68; Sir G. Wilkinson in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2. p. 121), a sense which the words ταῦτα δὲ ποιήσαντες ταριχεύουσι λίτρῳ κρίηψαντες ἡμέρας ἐβδομήκοντα (Herod. 2:86)will bear, though Kalisch somewhat arbitrarily, but unconvincingly, pronounces it to be "excluded both by the context and Greek syntax."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
taking the forty
אַרְבָּעִ֣ים (’ar·bā·‘îm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 705: Forty

days
י֔וֹם (yō·wm)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

required to complete
וַיִּמְלְאוּ־ (way·yim·lə·’ū-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 4390: To fill, be full of

the embalming.
הַחֲנֻטִ֑ים (ha·ḥă·nu·ṭîm)
Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 2590: To spice, to embalm, to ripen

And the Egyptians
מִצְרַ֖יִם (miṣ·ra·yim)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4713: Egyptian -- inhabitant of Egypt

mourned
וַיִּבְכּ֥וּ (way·yiḇ·kū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1058: To weep, to bemoan

for him seventy
שִׁבְעִ֥ים (šiḇ·‘îm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 7657: Seventy (a cardinal number)

days.
יְמֵ֣י (yə·mê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3117: A day


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OT Law: Genesis 50:3 Forty days were fulfilled for him (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 50:2
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