And it came about after these events that his master’s wife had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Sleep with me.”
Parallel translations
- WEB After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”
- KJV And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
- BSB and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
- NKJV And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.”
- NLT and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Potiphar's wife repeatedly tries to seduce Joseph.
Overview
Joseph's success and good looks draw the immoral advances of his master's wife. The temptation tests his loyalty to God, to his master, and to his own integrity. The scene contrasts sharply with Judah's earlier moral failure, highlighting Joseph's faithfulness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ezek 16:34You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’
- 2 Sam 13:11When she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister!”
- 2 Pet 2:14having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;
- 1 Jn 2:16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
- Job 31:1“I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
- Ezek 23:12–16She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
- Ezek 23:5–6“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
- Ezek 16:32“‘“A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband!
- Matt 5:28but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
- Prov 5:9lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
- Prov 7:15–18Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.
- Ezek 16:25You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.
- Prov 2:16To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;
- Prov 7:13So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
- Gen 6:2God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
- Ps 119:37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.
- Jer 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s forehead. You refused to be ashamed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 39:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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