Genesis 39

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

1Now Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. # Ge 37:25, 36

2The Lord was with Joseph, # Ge 21:22; 26:24 so that he became a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 3His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper. # Ge 21:22; Ps 1:3 4Joseph found favor in his sight # Ge 19:19 and served him. So he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put under his charge. # Ge 24:2 5From the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. # Ge 30:27 So the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. 6So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and he had no concerns regarding anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and well-built. # Ge 29:17; 1Sa 16:12 7After a time, his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” # 2Sa 13:11

8But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my charge. 9There is none greater in this house than I. He has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” # Ge 20:6; 2Sa 12:13 10She spoke to Joseph every day, but he did not listen to her about lying with her or being with her.

11But it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there. 12She caught him by his clothing, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his clothing in her hand and fled and got outside. # Ecc 7:26

13When she saw that he had left his clothing in her hand and had fled outside, 14she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew among us to humiliate us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15When he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his clothing with me, fled, and got outside.”

16She laid up his clothing next to her until his master came home. 17She spoke to him using these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me. # Ex 23:1 18When I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his clothing with me and fled outside.”

19When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became enraged. 20Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

So he was there in the prison. # Ge 40:15 21But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. # Ge 39:2; Ex 3:21 22The keeper of the prison committed all the prisoners that were in the prison to the charge of Joseph. So whatever they did there, he was the one responsible for it. # Ge 39:4; 40:3–4 23The keeper of the prison did not concern himself with anything that was under Joseph’s charge because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. # Ge 39:2–3

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Genesis 39: MEV

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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version

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Genesis 39

Joseph lived in Egypt country

1This is the story about what happened to Joseph, after that time when his brothers sold him to the Midian mob. That Midian mob took Joseph to Egypt country. Then they sold Joseph to a man called Potifar. That man Potifar, he worked for the big boss of Egypt country, called Pharaoh. Potifar was in charge of all the soldiers that guarded Pharaoh’s house.

2God was with Joseph, and God helped him. So everything that Joseph did, it all went well. Joseph worked for Potifar, and he lived in Potifar’s house.#Acts 7:9 3Potifar saw that Joseph did everything really well, and he knew that God was helping him. 4So Potifar liked Joseph a lot, and he got Joseph to be his special worker. He put Joseph in charge of all the other workers in his house, and he got Joseph to look after everything that he owned. 5As soon as Potifar put Joseph in charge, God started to be really good to Potifar. God made everything go well in Potifar’s house, and he made lots of food plants grow on his land. 6So Potifar really trusted Joseph, and he let Joseph look after everything that belonged to him. Potifar didn’t worry about anything, because Joseph was in charge. Potifar just got to think about easy things, like the food he wanted to eat. Joseph looked after everything else.

Potifar’s wife made trouble for Joseph

Joseph was a really good-looking man, with a strong body. 7So after a while, Potifar’s wife started to look at Joseph a lot, and she wanted to sleep with him, like a woman sleeps with her husband. She said to Joseph, “Come and sleep with me.”

8But Joseph said, “No, I will not sleep with you. You know, I work for your husband, and he trusts me. He got me to look after everything that belongs to him. He doesn’t worry about anything, because I am in charge. 9He made me the most important person in his house. He made me the boss of everything here. There’s only one thing he will not let me touch. He will not let me touch you, because you are his wife. So I will not sleep with you. I will not go against God and do that wrong thing. No way.”

10But Potifar’s wife did not stop. Every day, she kept on asking Joseph to sleep with her. But Joseph didn’t listen to her. He didn’t sleep with her, and he tried to be far away from her.

11One day, Joseph went into Potifar’s house to do his work, just like he always did. On that day, there weren’t any other work-men in the house. 12Then Potifar’s wife came to Joseph. She grabbed him, and she held on to his coat, and she said, “Come and sleep with me.” So Joseph quickly ran out of the house. But Potifar’s wife still had Joseph’s coat in her hand.

13Potifar’s wife saw that Joseph ran out of the house, and she saw that she still had his coat in her hand. So she thought, “I will make trouble for Joseph.”

14Straight away, she shouted to the other work-men, and she said, “Come and see this.” Then those work-men came to her, and she lied to them and said, “You know, my husband brought a man here from the Hebrew tribe. That man doesn’t respect us mob. He wants to make fun of us. He came to me, and he tried to make me sleep with him, like a man sleeps with his wife. But I yelled out really loud. 15And as soon as he heard me yell out, he left his coat next to me, and he ran out of the house.”

16After that, Potifar’s wife put down Joseph’s coat next to her, and she waited for Potifar to come home. Potifar was Joseph’s boss. 17Later on, Potifar came home, and his wife said the same things to him that she said to those work-men. She lied and said, “That work-man from the Hebrew tribe, the one that you brought here, he came to me, and he tried to sleep with me and make me shamed. 18But I yelled out really loud, and straight away, he ran out of the house, and he left his coat next to me.”

Potifar put Joseph in jail

19Potifar heard his wife say that Joseph did those bad things to her. And Potifar got really angry. 20Potifar was Joseph’s boss, so he sent his men to grab Joseph, and they put him in jail. That jail belonged to Pharaoh, the big boss of Egypt country. There were other prisoners in that jail too. And Joseph stayed there in the jail.

21But God was with Joseph, and God kept on being very good to him.#Acts 7:9 God got the boss of that jail to think in a good way about Joseph. So that jail boss liked Joseph a lot, 22and he put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners in that jail. Whenever those prisoners had work to do, Joseph was their leader, and he made sure that they did their work properly. 23Joseph did everything well, so that jail boss didn’t worry about anything. He trusted Joseph to look after the prisoners and get all the work done. You see, God was with Joseph, and God made everything go well for him.

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