Genesis 39

1Now 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 down there.

2Yahweh was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

3His master saw that Yahweh was with him and that Yahweh made everything he did succeed in his hands.

4So Joseph found favor with him and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted to him everything he owned.

5From the time he put him in charge of his household and of everything he owned, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian’s household because of Joseph. The blessing of Yahweh was on everything he owned, in the house and in the field.

6So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s care, and with Joseph there, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome.

7After a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”

8But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has entrusted to me everything he owns.

9No one in this house is greater than I am. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?”

10Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to sleep with her or even be with her.

11One day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants was there in the house.

12She grabbed him by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

13When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,

14she called her household servants and said to them, “Look, he has brought us a Hebrew to make fools of us! He came to me to sleep with me, and I screamed.

15When he heard me raise my voice and scream, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.

17Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make a fool of me.

18But as soon as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19When his master heard the story his wife told him, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger.

20Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in prison.

21But Yahweh was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love. He gave him favor in the eyes of the warden of the prison.

22The warden put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison, and he was the one responsible for everything that was done there.

23The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because Yahweh was with him, and Yahweh made whatever he did succeed.