Bible Strands
Genesis 50:26
So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports the conclusion of Joseph’s life immediately after securing an oath from the sons of Israel regarding his future burial. The account follows Jacob’s embalming and burial, marking the end of the patriarchal generation in Egypt.
The words — וַיָּ֣מָת (va/yamat) literally means "and he died," while וַיַּחַנְט֣וּ (va/yachantu) translates to "and they embalmed." These verbs record the factual sequence of death followed by physical preservation.
The thread — The embalming parallels the preservation of Jacob in Genesis 50:2, while the sealed coffin anticipates the Exodus fulfillment of the oath in Genesis 50:25. The recorded lifespan of 110 years stands alongside Jacob’s 147 years in Genesis 47:28.
Why it lands — The text records a temporary burial to test whether the reader trusts the earlier oath rather than the finality of death. It requires the reader to hold the stated promise of bone transport against the present reality of an Egyptian coffin.
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
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Cross-references
- Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
- Genesis 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the length of his life was 147 years.
- Genesis 50:2 And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,
- Genesis 50:22 Now Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110.
- Joshua 24:29 Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.