Genesis 50:17

Plain English Version

He told us to say to you, ‘I know that your brothers did really bad things to you. They went wrong, and they hurt you. Please let go of all those bad things that your brothers did, and don’t do payback to them.’ ” Joseph’s brothers also said this in their message, “Please let go of all those bad things that we did, and don’t do payback to us. We respect God, just like our father did.” Joseph listened to that message from his brothers, and he started to cry.

Cross References

Genesis 31:42

Then Jacob said to Laban, “I know that you wanted to send me away with nothing. But God was with me, and he helped me. He is the one that looked after my grand-father Abraham. And my father Isaac respected him properly too. Yes, God helped me. He saw that I worked very hard for you, and he saw that you gave me trouble. So last night, he talked strongly to you, and he showed you that you did the wrong thing.”

Genesis 45:8

So I’m telling you, it wasn’t you mob that sent me here to Egypt. No, it was God that sent me here. He made me Pharaoh’s most important helper, and he made me boss over all of Pharaoh’s workers, and he put me in charge of all of Egypt.”

Genesis 49:25

Jacob kept on talking to Joseph. He said, “My God will help you. God has power over everything, and he will be good to you. He will make rain come down from the sky, and he will make water come up from springs under the ground, so that your land will grow really good food. You will have lots of kids and grand-kids, and your animals will have lots of babies.

Genesis 50:16

So Joseph’s brothers sent a message to Joseph. This is what they said in that message, “Joseph, our father talked to us before he died.

Genesis 50:18

Then his brothers came to him, and they quickly got down on their knees and put their faces near the ground, to show respect to Joseph. And they said to Joseph, “You are our boss, and we are your work-men.”

Genesis 50:20

Then Joseph said, “You know, a long time ago, you mob made a plan to hurt me. But God had a plan too. His plan was good, and it was more powerful than your plan. You did bad things, but God used them to make good things happen. Yes, he brought me here to Egypt country, so that I helped lots of people stay alive when the food plants didn’t grow. And those people are still alive today.

Matthew 18:35

Then Jesus said, “It’s like that with you too. You have to be good to all my other followers. If they do something bad to you, don’t do payback to them. Just forget it. Then, in the same way, my father in heaven will not do payback to you.” (We have not yet translated chapter 19. You can read those stories and messages in Mark 10:1-31.)

Matthew 25:40

I will say to them, ‘Listen. You did all these things to help my followers. They were not important people, but they were mine, so every time you helped them, you helped me at the same time.’

Matthew 6:12

Please don’t punish us for the bad things that we did, just like we don’t do payback to the people that did bad things to us.

Mark 10:41

Jesus’s other 10 special workers heard what James and John asked for, and they got angry.

Galatians 6:10

You see, every time we can do something good for somebody, we have to do it. If that person believes in Jesus, they belong to the same family as us, so we really have to do good things for them.

Galatians 6:16

So I’m asking God to be good to all the people that say that the young man operation doesn’t matter. I’m asking God to make them happy and quiet inside themselves. I’m asking this for all the people that God picked to be his own, like he picked the Israel people a long time ago.

Ephesians 4:32

Instead, be good to each other, and try to understand how other people feel. If somebody does wrong to you, don’t do payback to them, but let it go. Be good to each other, just like God is good to you. He doesn’t do payback to you. You belong to Jesus Christ now, so God doesn’t punish you for those bad things you did.

James 5:16

So whenever you go wrong and do bad things, don’t try to say that you are still good. No. Tell each other the true story about the bad things that you did. Then you can pray for each other, so that God can make you good again. Whenever a good person prays to God about something, then God uses his power and does whatever that good person asks for.