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.
Genesis 39
English Standard Version
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
1Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. (Ge 37:25; Ge 37:28; Ge 37:36)2The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. (Ge 21:22; Ge 26:24; Ge 26:28; Ge 28:15; Ge 39:21; 1Sa 16:18; 1Sa 18:14; 1Sa 18:28; Ac 7:9)3His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. (2Ch 26:5; Ps 1:3)4So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. (Ge 19:19; Ge 33:10; Ge 39:8; Ge 39:21)5From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. (Ge 30:27)6So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. (Ge 29:17; 1Sa 16:12)7And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.”8But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. (Ge 39:4)9He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (2Sa 12:13; Ps 51:4)10And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. (Pr 1:10)11But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house,12she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. (Pr 7:13; Pr 7:18)13And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house,14she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.15And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.”16Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home,17and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me.18But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”19As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled.20And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. (Ge 40:3; Ge 40:5; Ge 40:15; Ge 41:14; Ps 105:18)21But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Ge 39:2; Ex 3:21; Ex 11:3; Ex 12:36; Ac 7:9)22And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. (Ge 40:4)23The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. (Ge 39:2)