Genesis39
New International Version
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 there.
2The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
3When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,
4Joseph 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.
5From 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.
6So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
7and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
8But 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.
9No 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?”
10And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
12She 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.
13When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,
14she 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.
15When he heard me scream for help, 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 this story: “That Hebrew slave 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.
20Joseph’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,
21the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
22So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.
23The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Genesis 39.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Joseph preferred by Potiphar. (1–6). Joseph resists temptation. (7–12). Joseph is falsely accused by his mistress. (13–18). He is cast into prison, God is with him there. (19–23).
vv1-6
Our enemies may strip us of outward distinctions and ornaments; but wisdom and grace cannot be taken from us. They may separate us from friends, relatives, and country; but they cannot take from us the presence of the Lord. They may shut us from outward blessings, rob us of liberty, and confine us in dungeons; but they cannot shut us out from communion with God, from the throne of grace, or take from us the blessings of salvation. Joseph was blessed, wonderfully blessed, even in the house where he was a slave. God's presence with us, makes all we do prosperous. Good men are the blessings of the place where they live; good servants may be so, though mean and lightly esteemed. The prosperity of the wicked is, one way or other, for the sake of the godly. Here was a wicked family blessed for the sake of one good servant in it.
vv7-12
Beauty either in men or women, often proves a snare both to themselves and others. This forbids pride in it, and requires constant watchfulness against the temptation that attends it. We have great need to make a covenant with our eyes, lest the eyes infect the heart. When lust has got power, decency, and reputation, and conscience, are all sacrificed. Potiphar's wife showed that her heart was fully set to do evil. Satan, when he found he could not overcome Joseph with the troubles and the frowns of the world, for in them he still held fast his principle, assaulted him with pleasures, which have ruined more than the former. But Joseph, by the grace of God, was enabled to resist and overcome this temptation; and his escape was as great an instance of the Divine power, as the deliverance of the three children out of the fiery furnace. This sin was one which might most easily beset him. The tempter was his mistress, one whose favour would help him forward; and it was at his utmost peril if he slighted her, and made her his enemy. The time and place favoured the temptation. To all this was added frequent, constant urging. The almighty grace of God enabled Joseph to overcome this assault of the enemy. He urges what he owed both to God and his master. We are bound in honour, as well as justice and gratitude, not in any thing to wrong those who place trust in us, how secretly soever it may be done. He would not offend his God. Three arguments Joseph urges upon himself. 1. He considers who he was that was tempted. One in covenant with God, who professed religion and relation to him. 2. What the sin was to which he was tempted. Others might look upon it as a small matter; but Joseph did not so think of it. Call sin by its own name, and never lessen it. Let sins of this nature always be looked upon as great wickedness, as exceedingly sinful. 3. Against whom he was tempted to sin, against God. Sin is against God, against his nature and his dominion, against his love and his design. Those that love God, for this reason hate sin. The grace of God enabled Joseph to overcome the temptation, by avoiding the temper. He would not stay to parley with the temptation, but fled from it, as escaping for his life. If we mean not to do iniquity, let us flee as a bird from the snare, and as a roe from the hunter.
vv13-18
Joseph's mistress, having tried in vain to make him a guilty man, endeavoured to be avenged on him. Those that have broken the bonds of modesty, will never be held by the bonds of truth. It is no new thing for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst of crimes, by those who themselves are the worst of criminals. It is well there is a day of discovery coming, in which all shall appear in their true characters.
Key Words
יוֹסֵף: Joseph, the name of seven Israelites
יָרַד: to descend (literally, to go downwards; or conventionally to a lower region, as the shore, a boundary, the enemy, etc.; or figuratively, to fall); causatively, to bring down (in all the above applications)
מִצְרַיִם: Mitsrajim, i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt
פּוֹטִיפַר: Potiphar, an Egyptian
סָרִיס: a eunuch; by implication, valet (especially of the female apartments), and thus, a minister of state
פַּרְעֹה: Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kings
שַׂר: a head person (of any rank or class)
טַבָּח: properly, a butcher; hence, a lifeguardsman (because he was acting as an executioner); also a cook (usually slaughtering the animal for food)
קָנָה: to erect, i.e. create; by extension, to procure, especially by purchase (causatively, sell); by implication to own
שָׁם: there (transferring to time) then; often thither, or thence
Cross References
Genesis 39Stephen's speech summarizes Joseph's story: the patriarchs sold Joseph, but God was with him.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Stephen's speech explicitly summarizes this narrative: God was with him and delivered him.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Historical psalm tracking Joseph being sold as a servant into Egypt.
Expresses the physical harshness of Joseph's imprisonment, specifically that his feet were hurt with fetters.
Supported by JFB
Direct parallel showing God's presence followed Joseph from Potiphar's house into the prison.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the language of the Lord making whatever Joseph did to prosper.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Direct narrative link from the prior account of Joseph being sold to Potiphar.
Supported by Calvin
Parallel phrase 'the Lord was with Joseph' in his subsequent trial in prison.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
David's confession echoing Joseph's conviction that sin is ultimately committed against God.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Describes the moral folly of committing adultery, destroying one's own soul.
Supported by Matthew Henry
God brought Daniel into favor with his overseer, mirroring Joseph's favor with the prison keeper.
A fulfillment of God making his captive people to be pitied by their captors.
Jesus' teaching on adultery starting with the lustful looking of the eyes.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Job's covenant with his eyes, demonstrating active resistance to the snare of lustful looking.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Wisdom's instruction to keep one's way far from the door of the adulterous woman.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Apostolic command to 'flee fornication' matches Joseph's physical flight from temptation.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Illustrates how God makes even a man's enemies to be at peace with him.
Joseph's promotion in prison mirrors his previous appointment as overseer in Potiphar's house.
Supported by Matthew Poole, Matthew Henry
Laban's recognition that the Lord blessed him for Jacob's sake, paralleling Joseph's blessing.
Supported by JFB
Explains why Potiphar's bread was excepted, as Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Exhortation to flee youthful lusts, exemplifying Joseph's physical flight.
Joseph's own subsequent defense that he did nothing to deserve being put in the dungeon.
Supported by JFB
The classic description of the righteous man: whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.