Genesis 39

Genesis 39:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 39 Joseph in Egypt v1 Now the *Ishmaelite merchants took Joseph down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of *Pharaoh, bought him from them.

v2 And the *Lord was with Joseph. Joseph did well in everything. Joseph was in the house of his *Egyptian master. v3 Joseph’s master saw that the *Lord was with Joseph. The *Lord helped Joseph to do everything well. v4 So Joseph’s master liked what Joseph did. And so he had Joseph work with him. He made Joseph the manager over everything.

He put everything that he owned into Joseph’s care. v5 From the time when Joseph became the manager, the *Lord *blessed the *Egyptian’s *household. The *Lord *blessed it because of Joseph. The *Lord *blessed everything that the *Egyptian had at home. And he *blessed everything that the *Egyptian had outside in the field. v6 So the master left everything in Joseph’s care. The *Egyptian did not worry about anything. He himself only looked after the food that he ate.

Now Joseph had a handsome body and he had a handsome face. v7 After a while, his master’s wife looked eagerly at Joseph. She said, ‘Have sex with me.’

v8 Joseph refused. He said to his master’s wife, ‘Look! My master is not worried about anything in the house. That is because I am here. He has put everything into my care. v9 I have as much power in the house as my master has. He has not kept back anything from me except you yourself. That is because you are his wife. I could not be so wicked. I could not *sin against God like that.’ v10 The wife continued to talk to Joseph every day for many days. But he did not listen to her. He did not have sex with her and he did not come near her.

v11 One day, Joseph went into the house to work. No men that belonged to the house were there in the house. v12 The master’s wife seized Joseph’s clothes. And she said, ‘Have sex with me.’ But Joseph left his clothes in her hand. He ran away and he went out of the house.

v13 The master’s wife saw that Joseph had left his clothes in her hand. He had run away out of the house. v14 So the wife called to the male servants that worked in the house. She said to them, ‘Look! He has brought a *Hebrew among us, who is playing unkind games with us. The *Hebrew came in to have sex with me. I cried out loudly. v15 When the *Hebrew heard my loud cry, he left his clothes with me. He ran away and he went out of the house.’

v16 Then the wife put the clothes aside near her until Joseph’s master came home. v17 She told the same story to the master. The wife said, ‘The *Hebrew slave that you brought among us came in to me. He tried to play unkind games with me. v18 Immediately, I shouted and I cried out. The *Hebrew left his clothes behind him. He ran away out of the house.’

v19 The master heard what his wife told to him. She said, ‘That is what your servant did to me.’ The master was very angry. v20 Joseph’s master took him and he put Joseph into prison. He put him in the prison where the king’s officers kept the king’s prisoners.

v21 But the *Lord was with Joseph. He was kind to Joseph. He caused the keeper of the prison to like Joseph. v22 The keeper of the prison put all the prisoners into Joseph’s care. That is, all the prisoners that were in the prison. Joseph did everything that people had to do there. v23 So Joseph had many things in his care. And the keeper of the prison did not worry about those things. That was because the *Lord was with Joseph. Joseph did everything well.

Joseph was just a slave when he arrived in Egypt. But soon, he began to have a successful career. Joseph worked for an important man called Potiphar. Soon, Potiphar realised that Joseph had many skills. Joseph was responsible and capable. Everything that Joseph did was successful. So, Potiphar gave Joseph authority over everything in his (Potiphar’s) *household.

The promise that God gave to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) was starting to happen. God was *blessing Potiphar because of Joseph.

Joseph even impressed Potiphar’s wife. She wanted to have sex with Joseph, who was an attractive young man. But Joseph knew that God does not permit such behaviour. So, Joseph refused. Potiphar’s wife was angry with Joseph. She lied that he tried to *rape her. So, Joseph became a prisoner.

Even in prison, Joseph impressed people. The guard realised that Joseph was responsible and capable. So, the guard gave Joseph authority over the other prisoners. Soon, Joseph was managing the prison. Joseph was still a prisoner. But even in the prison, God made Joseph successful. Notes on the verses Verse 1 The writer now goes back to the story about Joseph. This verse reminds us about Genesis 37:36. The writer tells us that Joseph went ‘down’ to Egypt. He probably means that a lot of the land in Egypt is lower than the mountains in Canaan. But Joseph had gone ‘down’ in another way. He also went ‘down’ in his social importance. He became a slave. He was not still a favourite son in a rich family.

Verses 2-3 In this chapter, the writer often tells us that the *Lord was with Joseph. Joseph suffered. But the *Lord was still taking care of him. And the *Lord made Joseph successful. So, Potiphar appointed him to do more important tasks.

Verse 4 Joseph soon became more important. He was a useful person and people trusted him. At home with his brothers, his own family did not respect him. But here in Egypt, his master respected him. That is clear. Soon, Joseph had authority over everything. But he worked well. He did not cheat his master.

Verse 5 God was *blessing Potiphar because of Joseph. In other words, Potiphar became more successful because Joseph was working for him.

Verse 6 Potiphar did not worry about his *household. That shows how much Potiphar trusted Joseph.

Verse 7 Joseph would not do wrong things. The situation was very difficult for him. His master’s wife had a lot of power.

Verses 8-9 Joseph was responsible to his master. But Joseph also knew that he was responsible to God. We can see that Joseph was a *righteous man. He did not care about his own pleasure. Instead, Joseph thought about what God wanted him to do.

Verse 10 This did not just happen once. The master’s wife tried to tempt Joseph every day.

Verse 11 The master’s wife had probably sent the other servants out.

Verses 12-13 On this day, the master’s wife held Joseph’s clothing firmly. So, Joseph could not just walk away, as he had done on other days. But Joseph refused to do what she wanted. He ran out of the house. She was still holding his clothing. He had done the right thing. But the master’s wife now had evidence that seemed to prove her lie.

Verse 14 The master’s wife pretended that Joseph tried to *rape her. When the wife talked to the servants, she even blamed her husband. She said that he had brought a foreign slave into the house.

Verses 16-18 The master’s wife repeated her lies to her husband. She wanted him to punish Joseph. She was very angry with Joseph. Perhaps she felt ashamed that she tried to tempt Joseph. But she was not sorry. Like Joseph’s own brothers, she hated the fact that Joseph was *righteous.

Verses 19-20 The master’s wife had said that Joseph had tried to *rape her. The usual punishment for that was death. Potiphar put Joseph into prison. It was a special prison. If a servant of the king had to go to prison, the king’s officers kept him there.

We do not know why Potiphar did not kill Joseph. But Potiphar was the captain of the guards (Genesis 38:36). So, perhaps Potiphar was responsible for the prison too. Potiphar knew that Joseph was capable. Perhaps Potiphar thought that Joseph would be very useful in the prison.

The writer does not use people’s names very much in this story. He talks a lot about ‘he’, ‘she’, the ‘master’ and the ‘master’s wife’. Perhaps it showed that the people in the story belonged to different social classes. Joseph was a slave. Potiphar and his wife were the master and the master’s wife. They even had the legal right to kill their slaves.

Verse 21 God caused the keeper (guard) of the prison to like Joseph. But the guard did not prove that Joseph was not guilty. He did not take Joseph out of prison.

Verse 22 Soon, Joseph became very important in the prison. He had authority over all the other prisoners. Even in prison, God made Joseph successful.

Verse 23 Again the writer tells how people trusted Joseph. And the writer reminds us why Joseph was successful. Joseph was successful because God *blessed him.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3EIshmaelite</b%3E ~ a descendant of Abraham’s son Ishmael. (Ishmael’s mother was the female servant Hagar.) Many Ishmaelites were traders.