Genesis 50:5

my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now let me go and bury my father, and then return.”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Joseph addresses Pharaoh’s court immediately after the mourning period ends, requesting temporary leave to fulfill his father’s burial directive before returning to Egypt.

The words — הִשְׁבִּיעַ֣/נִי (hish.bi.'A./ni) translates literally as “he made swear an oath,” marking Jacob’s final command as a binding legal and familial obligation.

The thread — The pattern of preparing a personal tomb in Canaan or Jerusalem recurs in 2 Chronicles 16:14, Isaiah 22:16, and Matthew 27:60, where individuals carve or claim burial sites in advance of death.

Why it lands — The text requires a reader to acknowledge that sworn familial duties must be completed before resuming one’s current role, demanding concrete obedience to a final directive.

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

My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

Cross-references

2 Chronicles 16:14 And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.
Isaiah 22:16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
Matthew 27:60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Genesis 47:29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
Genesis 49:29 Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.
Genesis 50:24 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Deuteronomy 4:22 For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.
1 Samuel 14:43 “Tell me what you have done,” Saul commanded him. So Jonathan told him, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. And now I must die?”