Genesis 39

Joseph Is Sold to Potiphar in Egypt

1The traders#39:1 traders Literally, “Ishmaelites.” who bought Joseph took him down to Egypt. They sold him to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Potiphar. 2The Lord helped Joseph become a successful man. Joseph lived in the house of his master, Potiphar the Egyptian.

3Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph and that the Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did. 4So Potiphar was very happy with Joseph. He allowed Joseph to work for him and to help him rule the house. Joseph was the ruler over everything Potiphar owned. 5After Joseph was made the ruler over the house, the Lord blessed the house and everything that Potiphar owned. The Lord also blessed everything that grew in Potiphar’s fields. The Lord did this because of Joseph. 6So Potiphar allowed Joseph to take responsibility for everything in the house. Potiphar didn’t have to worry about anything except deciding what to eat.

Joseph Refuses Potiphar’s Wife

Joseph was a very handsome, good-looking man. 7After some time, the wife of Joseph’s master began to pay special attention to him. One day she said to him, “Sleep with me.”

8But Joseph refused. He said, “My master trusts me with everything in his house. He has given me responsibility for everything here. 9My master has made me almost equal to him in his house. I cannot sleep with his wife! That is wrong! It is a sin against God.”

10The woman talked with Joseph every day, but he refused to sleep with her. 11One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. He was the only man in the house at the time. 12His master’s wife grabbed his coat and said to him, “Come to bed with me.” But Joseph ran out of the house so fast that he left his coat in her hand.

13The woman saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house. 14She called to the men outside and said, “Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to make fun of us. He came in and tried to attack me, but I screamed. 15My scream scared him and he ran away, but he left his coat with me.” 16Then she kept his coat until her husband, Joseph’s master, came home. 17She told her husband the same story. She said, “This Hebrew slave you brought here tried to attack me! 18But when he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat.”

19Joseph’s master listened to what his wife said, and he became very angry. 20So Potiphar put Joseph into the prison where the king’s enemies were held, and that is where Joseph remained.

Joseph in Prison

21The Lord was with Joseph and continued to show his kindness to him, so the commander of the prison guards began to like Joseph. 22The commander of the guards put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. Joseph was their leader, but he still did the same work they did. 23The commander of the guards trusted Joseph with everything that was in the prison. This happened because the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord helped Joseph be successful in everything he did.

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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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