Genesis 39:6-20

GOD’S WORD Translation

⁶ So he left all that he owned in Joseph’s care. He wasn’t concerned about anything except the food he ate.

Joseph was well-built and handsome. ⁷ After a while his master’s wife began to desire Joseph, so she said, “Come to bed with me.”

⁸ But Joseph refused and said to her, “My master doesn’t concern himself with anything in the house. He trusts me with everything he owns. ⁹ No one in this house is greater than I. He’s kept nothing back from me except you, because you’re his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” ¹⁰ Although she kept asking Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or be with her.

¹¹ One day he went into the house to do his work, and none of the household servants were there. ¹² She grabbed him by his clothes and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he ran outside and left his clothes in her hand.

¹³ When she realized that he had gone but had left his clothes behind, ¹⁴ she called her household servants and said to them, “Look! My husband brought this Hebrew here to fool around with us. He came in and tried to go to bed with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. ¹⁵ As soon as he heard me scream, he ran outside and left his clothes with me.”

¹⁶ She kept Joseph’s clothes with her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought here came in and tried to fool around with me. ¹⁸ But when I screamed, he ran outside and left his clothes with me.”

¹⁹ When Potiphar heard his wife’s story, especially when she said, “This is what your slave did to me,” he became very angry. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master arrested him and put him in the same prison where the king’s prisoners were kept.

While Joseph was in prison,