🌱WEB · Genesis 50:11
What does Genesis 50:11 mean?
"When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan."
— Genesis 50:11 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.
They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.
When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
His sons did to him just as he commanded them,
for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.
Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
Explanation
Genesis 50:11 describes a moment right after Jacob's death, when his son Joseph and a great company of Egyptian officials, along with Jacob's own family, traveled from Egypt up to Canaan to bury him in the family burial site at Machpelah, near Hebron. Along the way, they stopped at a place called the threshing floor of Atad, just beyond the Jordan River, and held a solemn period of mourning there. This mourning was so intense and elaborate that the local Canaanite residents took notice and were struck by it, remarking, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." As a result, the place was renamed Abel Mizraim, which means "mourning of Egypt" or "meadow of Egypt."
To understand the context, remember that Jacob had died in Egypt, where he and his family had settled during a famine, largely because his son Joseph had risen to become second-in-command under Pharaoh. Genesis, traditionally attributed to Moses, was written to record the origins of Israel and God's covenant faithfulness to the patriarchs. This chapter closes out the book by showing how Jacob's body was carried with great honor from Egypt back to the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joseph arranged an enormous funeral procession that included Egyptian officials, elders, and chariots, a sign of the immense respect Jacob had earned through his son's status in Pharaoh's court. The mourning at Atad was likely a formal, extended period of lamentation before the final burial, a custom common in the
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.