Genesis39
New Living Translation
1When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
2The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master.
3Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did.
4This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned.
5From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.
6So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man,
7and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.
8But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household.
9No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
10She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.
11One day, however, no one else was around when he went in to do his work.
12She came and grabbed him by his cloak, demanding, “Come on, sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house.
13When she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled,
14she called out to her servants. Soon all the men came running. “Look!” she said. “My husband has brought this Hebrew slave here to make fools of us! He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed.
15When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me.”
16She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.
17Then she told him her story. “That Hebrew slave you’ve brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me,” she said.
18“But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!”
19Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife’s story about how Joseph had treated her.
20So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained.
21But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.
22Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.
23The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.
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.