Genesis
39
- Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the
guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
- The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered,
and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
- When his master saw that the LORD was with
him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did,
- Joseph found favor in his eyes and became
his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted
to his care everything he owned.
- From the time he put him in charge of his
household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the
Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar
had, both in the house and in the field.
- So he left in Joseph's care everything he
had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except
the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
- and after a while his master's wife took
notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me !"
- But he refused. "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.
- No one is greater in this house than I am.
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?"
- And though she spoke to Joseph day after
day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
- One day he went into the house to attend
to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
- She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come
to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the
house.
- When she saw that he had left his cloak
in her hand and had run out of the house,
- she called her household servants. "Look,"
she said to them, "this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of
us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.
- When he heard me scream for help, he left
his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
- She kept his cloak beside her until his
master came home.
- Then she told him this story: "That
Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.
- But as soon as I screamed for help, he left
his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."
- When his master heard the story his wife
told him, saying, "This is how your slave treated me," he burned
with anger.
- Joseph's master took him and put him in
prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. But while Joseph
was there in the prison,
- the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness
and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
- So the warden put Joseph in charge of all
those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done
there.
- The warden paid no attention to anything
under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success
in whatever he did.
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