Genesis 50 · Verse 3

Genesis 50:3

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.

Genesis 50:3, King James Version

Genesis 50:3 in other translations

BSB	taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
WEB	Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.
ASV	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.
YLT	and they fulfil for him forty days, for so they fulfil the days of the embalmed, and the Egyptians weep for him seventy days.
DARBY	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.
BBE	And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days.
Webster	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.

What does Genesis 50:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

3. the Egyptians mourned, &c. It was made a period of public mourning, as on the death of a royal personage.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 3 Forty days - The body it appears required this number of days to complete the process of embalming; afterwards it lay in natron thirty days more, making in the whole seventy days, according to the preceding accounts, during which the mourning was continued.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 50:1-6

Though pious relatives and friends have lived to a good old age, and we are confident they are gone to glory, yet we may regret our own loss, and pay respect to their memory by lamenting them. Grace does not destroy, but it purifies, moderates, and regulates natural affection. The departed soul is out of the reach of any tokens of our affection; but it is proper to show respect to the body, of which we look for a…

Read the full comment on Genesis 50:1-6 →

Genesis 50:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּמְלְאוּ\־vai.yim.le.'u-and they were completedH4390

לוֹ֙lofor him

אַרְבָּעִ֣ים'ar.ba.'ImfortyH705

י֔וֹםYomday[s]H3117

כִּ֛יkiforH3588

כֵּ֥ןkenthusH3651

יִמְלְא֖וּyim.le.'Uthey were completedH4390

יְמֵ֣יye.Mei[the] days ofH3117

הַחֲנֻטִ֑יםha.cha.nu.Timthe embalming<s>H2590

וַיִּבְכּ֥וּvai.yiv.Kuand they wept forH1058

אֹת֛וֹ'o.To<obj.> himH853

מִצְרַ֖יִםmitz.Ra.yimEgyptH4713

שִׁבְעִ֥יםshiv.'ImseventyH7657

יֽוֹם\׃Yomday[s]H3117

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 50:3

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 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.
Genesis 50:10
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.
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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

forty days.We learn from the Greek historians, that the time of mourning was while the body remained with the embalmers, which Herodotus says was seventy days. During this time the body lay in nitre, the use of which was to dry up all its superfluous and noxious moisture: and when, in the space of 30 days, this was sufficiently effected, the remaining forty, the time mentioned by Diodorus, were employed in anointing it with gums and spices to preserve it, which was properly the embalming. This sufficiently explains the phraseology of the text.
mourned. Heb. wept. three-score.
Nu 20:29; De 21:13; 34:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 50:2
And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
Genesis 50:3
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.
Genesis 50:4
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,

Read all of Genesis 50

Genesis 50:3 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y cumpliéronle cuarenta días, porque así cumplían los días de los embalsamados, y lloráronlo los Egipcios setenta días.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et 40 jours s’accomplirent pour lui; car ainsi s’accomplissaient les jours de l’embaumement. Et les Égyptiens le pleurèrent 70 jours.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und es wurden vierzig Tage für ihn erfüllt, denn also werden erfüllt die Tage des Einbalsamierens. Und die Ägypter beweinten ihn siebzig Tage.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Quibus jussa explentibus, transierunt quadraginta dies: iste quippe mos erat cadaverum conditorum: flevitque eum Ægyptus septuaginta diebus.