Bible Strands
Genesis 50:11
When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians.” Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Canaanite inhabitants of the land observe Jacob’s sons mourning at the threshing floor of Atad and declare the event a solemn Egyptian funeral rite. Their observation occurs immediately after Joseph’s brothers complete seven days of lamentation for their father.
The words — The Hebrew term אֵבֶל (Evel) denotes the formal mourning observed at the site, while Abel-mizraim translates the Canaanite description of an Egyptian mourning ceremony. The text explicitly links the observed ritual to the place’s new designation.
The thread — The Canaanites of the land appear in Genesis 10:15 as descendants of Canaan and in Genesis 13:7 as neighbors in conflict with Abram and Lot. Their recurring presence marks the land’s indigenous perspective on foreign burial practices.
Why it lands — The verse records how an external observer names a location based on a foreign ritual, establishing Abel-mizraim as a geographical marker of Jacob’s burial. It requires the reader to recognize the historical layer of Canaanite observation without projecting later theological meaning onto the naming event.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 Abel–mizraim, which is beyond Jordan.
Cross-references
- Genesis 10:15 And Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites,
- Genesis 24:6 Abraham replied, “Make sure that you do not take my son back there.
- Genesis 13:7 And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
- Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 3:25 Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that pleasant hill country as well as Lebanon!”
- Deuteronomy 3:27 Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.
- Deuteronomy 11:30 Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?
- 1 Samuel 6:18 The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.