Genesis 39 :: New International Version (NIV)

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Gen 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 there.

Gen 39:2

Gen 39:2The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

Gen 39:3

Gen 39:3When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did,

Gen 39:4

Gen 39:4Joseph 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.

Gen 39:5

Gen 39:5From 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.

Gen 39:6

Gen 39:6So 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,

Gen 39:7

Gen 39:7and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

Gen 39:8

Gen 39:8But 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.

Gen 39:9

Gen 39:9No 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?”

Gen 39:10

Gen 39:10And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Gen 39:11

Gen 39:11One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.

Gen 39:12

Gen 39:12She 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.

Gen 39:13

Gen 39:13When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,

Gen 39:14

Gen 39:14she 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.

Gen 39:15

Gen 39:15When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Gen 39:16

Gen 39:16She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.

Gen 39:17

Gen 39:17Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.

Gen 39:18

Gen 39:18But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Gen 39:19

Gen 39:19When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.

Gen 39:20

Gen 39:20Joseph’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,

Gen 39:21

Gen 39:21the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.

Gen 39:22

Gen 39:22So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.

Gen 39:23

Gen 39:23The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.