Genesis 39
39
Chapter 39
Joseph works for one of Pharaoh's officers
1The Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and they sold him there as a slave. Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites. He was one of Pharaoh's officers. He had authority over all the guards. 2The Lord was with Joseph, so that good things happened to him. Joseph lived in the house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. 3Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord helped Joseph to do good work. 4So Joseph pleased Potiphar. Potiphar gave Joseph authority as his special servant. Joseph took care of everything that belonged to Potiphar. 5From the time that Potiphar gave Joseph authority over everything in his house, the Lord blessed the people of Potiphar's house. The Lord also blessed Potiphar's animals and his crops because of Joseph.
6So Potiphar told Joseph to take care of everything that belonged to him. Potiphar did not worry about anything in his house. The only thing that he thought about was the food that he ate.
Joseph was a strong and handsome man. 7After some time had passed, Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph was handsome. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’
8But Joseph refused to do that. He said, ‘My master does not need to think about anything in the house. I take care of everything that belongs to him. 9No one has more authority in this house than I do. My master keeps nothing from me, except you. That is because you are his wife. I could not do such an evil thing. It would be a sin against God.’
Potiphar's wife tells lies about Joseph
10Potiphar's wife continued to speak to Joseph every day. But he would not agree to go to bed with her. He would not even go near her. 11One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. None of the other servants were there in the house. 12Potiphar's wife suddenly took hold of Joseph's coat. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ Joseph left his coat in her hand and he ran out of the house.
13Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand. She saw that he had run out of the house. 14So she called her servants to come. She said to them, ‘Look at this! The Hebrew man that Potiphar brought to work here does not respect us! He came in here and he tried to have sex with me. But I screamed loudly. 15When he heard me scream like that, he ran out of the house. But he left his coat here with me.’
16Potiphar's wife kept the coat beside her until Joseph's master, Potiphar, came home. 17Then she told him this story: ‘The Hebrew slave that you brought to us tried to insult me. He wanted to sleep with me. 18But I screamed loudly for help. So he left his coat with me and he ran out of the house.’
19Joseph's master heard the story that his wife told him. She said, ‘This is what your slave did to me.’ When Potiphar heard that, he was very angry. 20He took hold of Joseph, and he put him in prison. It was the place where the king put his own prisoners.
21While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was still with him. He was kind to Joseph. He caused the leader of the prison guards to like Joseph. 22So this man gave Joseph authority over all the other prisoners. Joseph decided about everything that they did in the prison. 23The leader of the guards did not worry about anything that Joseph had authority over. He saw that the Lord was with Joseph. Whatever Joseph did, the Lord helped him to do it well.
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Genesis 39
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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