39
Joseph's life in Egypt
1 When the Ishmaelites got to Egypt, they sold Joseph to a man named Potifar. Potifar was an important man in Egypt. He was boss over all the soldiers that guarded the government building. That was where the king worked. 2 God was very good to Joseph and helped him to do everything the right way. Joseph was so good at what he did, he was allowed to live in Potifar's house.
3 Potifar saw that God helped Joseph do everything just right. 4 And so Potifar was happy with Joseph and made him the boss over all the people in his house and over everything he owned. 5 God did even more good things for Potifar after Joseph started to be the boss of Potifar's house. God made all Potifar's animals grow fat and his paddocks grow a lot of food. Joseph was God's man and that is why all these good things happened for Potifar. 6 And so Potifar had no worries, he only had to worry about the food he ate.
Potifar's wife tried to get Joseph to do the wrong thing
7 Potifar's wife looked at Joseph and saw that he was strong and good looking, and she wanted him. One day she said to him, “Come to bed with me.”
8 Joseph said, “No way. I cannot do that. Your husband trusts me to look after everything he owns. 9 I am the boss of this house, and your husband has not kept anything from me, just you. You are his wife and you belong to him, and so there is no way that I will do this really bad thing that you want me to do. If I did that bad thing, I would be going against God.”
10 Day after day, she tried to get him to sleep with her, but every day he said, “No.” He would not listen to her or stay near her. 11-12 But one day, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, Potifar's wife saw her chance to get him. She knew that there weren't any other men in the house and so she grabbed Joseph's coat and said, “Come to bed with me!”
But Joseph got out of his coat and ran outside. 13-15 When Potifar's wife saw that she still had Joseph's coat in her hand, she got wild and shouted out to the workers, “Look at this. This coat belongs to that Hebrew stranger. My husband has let him come into my house and he has shamed me. He came and tried to sleep with me like I was his wife, but I screamed and he ran away without his coat.”
16-17 She kept Joseph's coat and when her husband came home she told him the same story. She said, “That Hebrew stranger you let come into our house tried to shame me. He tried to sleep with me like we were married. 18 But I screamed and he ran away without his coat.”
19 Potifar listened to his wife's story and got really angry. 20 He arrested Joseph and put him in jail where the king's prisoners were kept.
21 But again, God was with Joseph and was kind to him.+ God made the boss of the jail respect Joseph. 22 The jail boss picked Joseph to be the next boss under him. Joseph had to look after everything that happened in the jail. And he was the boss over all the other prisoners too. 23 And so the guard did not have to worry about anything that happened in the jail. The Lord was with Joseph and helped him do everything just right.
+ 39:21 Acts 7:9