Genesis 49:31 - Printer Friendly

ESV: There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah—

NIV: There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.

NASB: There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah—

CSB: Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.

NLT: There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.

KJV: There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

NKJV: There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.

After a long and often-difficult life (Genesis 47:9), Jacob is making final statements to his sons (Genesis 49:28–30). These last commands involve his burial. He is using his last breath to urgently command his gathered sons to lay his body to rest in the Promised Land of Canaan, not in Egypt. The intended spot is the family tomb, purchased by Abraham for this very purpose (Genesis 23:3–20).

Here, Jacob drives home the importance of this location. Both Abraham and Sarah are buried there, as are his own parents Isaac and Rebekah. In addition, Leah—Jacob's wife and the mother of six of the sons gathered around him—is buried in the cave as well. Now the time has come for Jacob's body to join theirs.

Genesis 49:28–33 contains Jacob's last words before his death. He commands his sons to see that his body is buried in Canaan in the family tomb. It is one of the few pieces of property the family owns outright in the Promised Land. Abraham bought it from the Hittites. He and Sarah are buried there, as are Jacob's parents Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob's first wife Leah. His sons must take his body there to lay it to rest with the others. After saying this, the man God renamed "Israel" (Genesis 35:10–1) dies in the presence of his extended family.

Genesis 49 contains Jacob's dying prophetic remarks. In the form of poetry, Jacob pronounces positive and negative "blessings" about each of his 12 sons and the people who will come from them. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are each held to account for their past sins. Judah is described as a lion; the kingly line will come from his people. Joseph and his descendants are lavished with blessings. Once the oracle is completed, Jacob commands his sons to bury him with his fathers in Canaan. Then, the man God named "Israel" (Genesis 35:10–11) dies.

After a life of struggle and controversy, Jacob's family has securely settled in Egypt. Genesis 48 told of Jacob's blessing on Joseph's two oldest sons: Ephraim and Manasseh. In Genesis 49, Jacob gives both positive and negative predictions to each of his sons, in turn. Jacob then commands his sons to bury him in Canaan, then dies. The final chapter of Genesis describes the family's mourning and Joseph's death. The opening verses of Exodus race forward some 400 years, as the nation of Israel falls into harsh slavery under new Egyptian rulers (Exodus 1:8–14).

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/4/2024 10:09:13 PM