¹⁰ Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables?

¹¹ And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

¹² For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will ^[a]be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

¹³ This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because ^[b]having the power of seeing, they do not see; and ^[c]having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand.

¹⁴ In them indeed is ^[d]the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.

¹⁵ For this nation’s heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them.^(A)

¹⁶ But blessed (happy, fortunate, and ^[e]to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.

¹⁷ Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸ Listen then to the [meaning of the] parable of the sower:

^19 [f]While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the roadside.

²⁰ As for what was sown on thin (rocky) soil, this is he who hears the Word and at once welcomes and accepts it with joy;

²¹ Yet it has no real root in him, but is temporary (inconstant, ^[g]lasts but a little while); and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble [he is repelled and ^[h]begins to distrust and desert Him Whom he ought to trust and obey] and he falls away.

²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the pleasure and delight and glamour and deceitfulness of riches choke and suffocate the Word, and it yields no fruit.

²³ As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.

39 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

² But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

³ And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to flourish and succeed in his hand.^(A)

⁴ So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge.

⁵ From the time that he made him supervisor in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the Lord’s blessing was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

⁶ And [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph’s charge and paid no attention to anything he had except the food he ate. Now Joseph was an attractive person and fine-looking.

⁷ Then after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me.

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care.

⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?

¹⁰ She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her.

¹¹ Then it happened about this time that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the house were indoors.

¹² And she 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].

¹³ And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled away,

¹⁴ She called to the men of her household and said to them, Behold, he [your master] has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock and insult us; he came in where I was to lie with me, and I screamed at the top of my voice.

¹⁵ And when he heard me screaming and crying, he left his garment with me and fled and got out of the house.

¹⁶ And she laid up his garment by her until his master came home.

¹⁷ Then she told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought among us came to me to mock and insult me.

¹⁸ And when I screamed and cried, he left his garment with me and fled out [of the house].

¹⁹ And when [Joseph’s] master heard the words of his wife, saying to him, This is the way your servant treated me, his wrath was kindled.

²⁰ And Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the state prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy and loving-kindness and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.

²² And the warden of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatsoever was done there, he was in charge of it.

²³ The prison warden paid no attention to anything that was in [Joseph’s] charge, for the Lord was with him and made whatever he did to prosper.