Genesis 39

Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. He was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did succeed in his hands. Joseph found favor in his eyes and served him. His master put him in charge of his house and placed all he had in Joseph’s hands. From the time he put him in charge of his house and all he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The LORD’s blessing was on all he had, in the house and in the field. He left all he had in Joseph’s hands and concerned himself with nothing except the bread he ate. Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. After these things his master’s wife lifted her eyes toward Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has placed all he has in my hands. No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not agree to lie beside her or to be with her. One day he came into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were there in the house. She caught him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called the men of her house and said to them, “Look, he has brought us a Hebrew man to mock us. He came to me to sleep with me, but I cried out in a loud voice. When he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” She kept his garment beside her until his master came home. She told him these same things, saying, “The Hebrew servant you brought us came to me to mock me. But when I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” When his master heard his wife’s words, as she said to him, “This is how your servant treated me,” his anger burned. Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. He remained there in the prison. But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him kindness and gave him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. The prison warden placed in Joseph’s hands all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for everything done there. The prison warden did not check anything in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him, and the LORD made all that he did succeed.

Rights and attribution