Genesis 39:1–20

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39Now Joseph^x had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard,^y bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.^z

²The Lord was with Joseph^a so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³When his master saw that the Lord was with him^b and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,^{c 4}Joseph found favor in his eyes^d and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household,^e and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.^{f 5}From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household^g of the Egyptian because of Joseph.^h The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.^{i 6}So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care;^j with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,^{k 7}and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”^l

⁸But he refused.^m “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.^{n 9}No one is greater in this house than I am.^o My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”^{p 10}And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused^q to go to bed with her or even be with her.

¹¹One day he went into the house to attend to his duties,^r and none of the household servants^s was inside. ¹²She caught him by his cloak^t and said, “Come to bed with me!”^u But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.^v

¹³When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, ¹⁴she called her household servants.^w “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew^x has been brought to us to make sport of us!^y He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.^{z 15}When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”^a

¹⁶She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷Then she told him this story:^b “That Hebrew^c slave^d you brought us came to me to make sport of me. ¹⁸But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

¹⁹When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.^{e 20}Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison,^f the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison,