Genesis 39

Joseph and the Wife of Potiphar

1Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar had bought him from the Ishmaelite traders who had taken him there. Potiphar was one of Pharaoh’s officials. He was the captain of the palace guard.

2The Lord was with Joseph. He gave him great success. Joseph lived in Potiphar’s house. 3Joseph’s master saw that the Lord was with him. He saw that the Lord made Joseph successful in everything he did. 4So Potiphar was pleased with Joseph and made him his attendant. He put Joseph in charge of his house. He trusted Joseph to take care of everything he owned. 5From that time on, the Lord blessed Potiphar’s family and servants because of Joseph. He blessed everything Potiphar had in his house and field. 6So Joseph took good care of everything Potiphar owned. With Joseph in charge, Potiphar didn’t have to worry about anything except the food he ate.

Joseph was strong and handsome. 7After a while, his master’s wife noticed Joseph. She said to him, “Come to bed with me!”

8But he refused. “My master has put me in charge,” he told her. “Now he doesn’t have to worry about anything in the house. He trusts me to take care of everything he owns. 9No one in this house is in a higher position than I am. My master hasn’t held anything back from me, except you. You are his wife. So how could I do an evil thing like that? How could I sin against God?” 10She spoke to Joseph day after day. But he told her he wouldn’t go to bed with her. He didn’t even want to be with her.

11One day Joseph went into the house to take care of his duties. None of the family servants was inside. 12Potiphar’s wife grabbed him by his coat. “Come to bed with me!” she said. But he left his coat in her hand. And he ran out of the house.

13She saw that he had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house. 14So she called her servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew slave has been brought here to make fun of us! He came in here to force me to have sex with him. But I screamed for help. 15He heard my scream. So he left his coat beside me and ran out of the house.”

16She kept Joseph’s coat with her until Potiphar came home. 17Then she told him her story. She said, “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to rape me. 18But I screamed for help. So he left his coat beside me and ran out of the house.”

19Potiphar’s wife told him, “That’s how your slave treated me.” When Joseph’s master heard her story, he became very angry. 20So he put Joseph in prison. It was the place where the king’s prisoners were kept.

While Joseph was there in the prison, 21the Lord was with him. He was kind to him. So the man running the prison was pleased with Joseph. 22He put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. He made him responsible for everything done there. 23The man who ran the prison didn’t pay attention to anything in Joseph’s care. That’s because the Lord was with Joseph. He gave Joseph success in everything he did.

Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 39

1And Yosĕph had been taken down to Mitsrayim. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, a Mitsrian, bought him from the Yishma‛ĕlites who had taken him down there.

2And it came to be that יהוה was with Yosĕph, and he became a prosperous man, and was in the house of his master the Mitsrian.

3And his master saw that יהוה was with him and that יהוה made all he did to prosper in his hand.

4So Yosĕph found favour in his eyes, and served him, and he appointed him over his house, and gave into his hand all that he had.

5And it came to be, from the time that he appointed him over his house and all that he had, that יהוה blessed the Mitsrian’s house for Yosĕph’s sake. And the blessing of יהוה was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

6And he left in Yosĕph’s hand all that he had, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. And Yosĕph was handsome in form and handsome in appearance.

7And after these events it came to be that his master’s wife lifted up her eyes to Yosĕph and said, “Lie with me.”

8But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has given into my hand all that he has.

9No one is greater in this house than I, and he has not withheld whatever from me but you, because you are his wife. And how shall I do this great evil and sin against Elohim?

10And it came to be, as she spoke to Yosĕph day by day, that he did not listen to her, to lie with her, to be with her.

11And it came to be on a certain day, when Yosĕph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside,

12that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.

13And it came to be, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside,

14that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.

15And it came to be, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.

16And she kept his garment with her until his master came home.

17And she spoke to him these same words, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me, to mock me,

18so it came to be, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.”

19And it came to be, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, “Your servant did to me according to these words,” that his displeasure burned.

20Then Yosĕph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the sovereign’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.

21But יהוה was with Yosĕph and extended loving-commitment to him, and He gave him favour in the eyes of the prison warden.

22And the prison warden gave into the hand of Yosĕph all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there was his doing.

23The prison warden did not look into any point that was under Yosĕph’s hand, because יהוה was with him. And whatever he did, יהוה made it prosper.

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