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39
Joseph lived in Egypt country
1 This is the story about what happened to Joseph, after that time when his brothers sold him to the Midian mob. That Midian mob took Joseph to Egypt country. Then they sold Joseph to a man called Potifar. That man Potifar, he worked for the big boss of Egypt country, called Pharaoh. Potifar was in charge of all the soldiers that guarded Pharaoh’s house.
2 God was with Joseph, and God helped him. So everything that Joseph did, it all went well. Joseph worked for Potifar, and he lived in Potifar’s house.*Acts 7:9 3 Potifar saw that Joseph did everything really well, and he knew that God was helping him. 4 So Potifar liked Joseph a lot, and he got Joseph to be his special worker. He put Joseph in charge of all the other workers in his house, and he got Joseph to look after everything that he owned. 5 As soon as Potifar put Joseph in charge, God started to be really good to Potifar. God made everything go well in Potifar’s house, and he made lots of food plants grow on his land. 6 So Potifar really trusted Joseph, and he let Joseph look after everything that belonged to him. Potifar didn’t worry about anything, because Joseph was in charge. Potifar just got to think about easy things, like the food he wanted to eat. Joseph looked after everything else.
Potifar’s wife made trouble for Joseph
Joseph was a really good-looking man, with a strong body. 7 So after a while, Potifar’s wife started to look at Joseph a lot, and she wanted to sleep with him, like a woman sleeps with her husband. She said to Joseph, “Come and sleep with me.”
8 But Joseph said, “No, I will not sleep with you. You know, I work for your husband, and he trusts me. He got me to look after everything that belongs to him. He doesn’t worry about anything, because I am in charge. 9 He made me the most important person in his house. He made me the boss of everything here. There’s only one thing he will not let me touch. He will not let me touch you, because you are his wife. So I will not sleep with you. I will not go against God and do that wrong thing. No way.”
10 But Potifar’s wife did not stop. Every day, she kept on asking Joseph to sleep with her. But Joseph didn’t listen to her. He didn’t sleep with her, and he tried to be far away from her.
11 One day, Joseph went into Potifar’s house to do his work, just like he always did. On that day, there weren’t any other work-men in the house. 12 Then Potifar’s wife came to Joseph. She grabbed him, and she held on to his coat, and she said, “Come and sleep with me.” So Joseph quickly ran out of the house. But Potifar’s wife still had Joseph’s coat in her hand.
13 Potifar’s wife saw that Joseph ran out of the house, and she saw that she still had his coat in her hand. So she thought, “I will make trouble for Joseph.”
14 Straight away, she shouted to the other work-men, and she said, “Come and see this.” Then those work-men came to her, and she lied to them and said, “You know, my husband brought a man here from the Hebrew tribe. That man doesn’t respect us mob. He wants to make fun of us. He came to me, and he tried to make me sleep with him, like a man sleeps with his wife. But I yelled out really loud. 15 And as soon as he heard me yell out, he left his coat next to me, and he ran out of the house.”
16 After that, Potifar’s wife put down Joseph’s coat next to her, and she waited for Potifar to come home. Potifar was Joseph’s boss. 17 Later on, Potifar came home, and his wife said the same things to him that she said to those work-men. She lied and said, “That work-man from the Hebrew tribe, the one that you brought here, he came to me, and he tried to sleep with me and make me shamed. 18 But I yelled out really loud, and straight away, he ran out of the house, and he left his coat next to me.”
Potifar put Joseph in jail
19 Potifar heard his wife say that Joseph did those bad things to her. And Potifar got really angry. 20 Potifar was Joseph’s boss, so he sent his men to grab Joseph, and they put him in jail. That jail belonged to Pharaoh, the big boss of Egypt country. There were other prisoners in that jail too. And Joseph stayed there in the jail.
21 But God was with Joseph, and God kept on being very good to him.*Acts 7:9 God got the boss of that jail to think in a good way about Joseph. So that jail boss liked Joseph a lot, 22 and he put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners in that jail. Whenever those prisoners had work to do, Joseph was their leader, and he made sure that they did their work properly. 23 Joseph did everything well, so that jail boss didn’t worry about anything. He trusted Joseph to look after the prisoners and get all the work done. You see, God was with Joseph, and God made everything go well for him.

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*39:2 Acts 7:9

*39:21 Acts 7:9

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