39:1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. 1 An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, 2 purchased him from 3 the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. 39:2 The Lord was with Joseph. He was successful 4 and lived 5 in the household of his Egyptian master. 39:3 His master observed that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he was doing successful. 6 39:4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. 7 Potiphar appointed Joseph 8 overseer of his household and put him in charge 9 of everything he owned. 39:5 From the time 10 Potiphar 11 appointed him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed 12 the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the Lord was on everything that he had, both 13 in his house and in his fields. 14 39:6 So Potiphar 15 left 16 everything he had in Joseph’s care; 17 he gave no thought 18 to anything except the food he ate. 19
Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. 20 39:7 Soon after these things, his master’s wife took notice of 21 Joseph and said, “Have sex with me.” 22 39:8 But he refused, saying 23 to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought 24 to his household with me here, 25 and everything that he owns he has put into my care. 26 39:9 There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do 27 such a great evil and sin against God?” 39:10 Even though she continued to speak 28 to Joseph day after day, he did not respond 29 to her invitation to have sex with her. 30
39:11 One day 31 he went into the house to do his work when none of the household servants 32 were there in the house. 39:12 She grabbed him by his outer garment, saying, “Have sex with me!” But he left his outer garment in her hand and ran 33 outside. 34 39:13 When she saw that he had left his outer garment in her hand and had run outside, 39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought 35 in a Hebrew man 36 to us to humiliate us. 37 He tried to have sex with me, 38 but I screamed loudly. 39 39:15 When he heard me raise 40 my voice and scream, he left his outer garment beside me and ran outside.”
39:16 So she laid his outer garment beside her until his master came home. 39:17 This is what she said to him: 41 “That Hebrew slave 42 you brought to us tried to humiliate me, 43 39:18 but when I raised my voice and screamed, he left his outer garment and ran outside.”
39:19 When his master heard his wife say, 44 “This is the way 45 your slave treated me,” 46 he became furious. 47 39:20 Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, 48 the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. 49
39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him kindness. 50 He granted him favor in the sight of the prison warden. 51 39:22 The warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care. He was in charge of whatever they were doing. 52 39:23 The warden did not concern himself 53 with anything that was in Joseph’s 54 care because the Lord was with him and whatever he was doing the Lord was making successful.
46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) 55
48:1 After these things Joseph was told, 56 “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.
19:18 At that time five cities 57 in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord who commands armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. 58 19:19 At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar 59 dedicated to the Lord at its border. 19:20 It 60 will become a visual reminder in the land of Egypt of 61 the Lord who commands armies. When they cry out to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a deliverer and defender 62 who will rescue them. 19:21 The Lord will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they 63 will acknowledge the Lord’s authority 64 at that time. 65 They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and fulfill them. 19:22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and then healing them. They will turn to the Lord and he will listen to their prayers 66 and heal them.
19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 67
16:53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters (along with your fortunes among them),
1 tn The disjunctive clause resumes the earlier narrative pertaining to Joseph by recapitulating the event described in 37:36. The perfect verbal form is given a past perfect translation to restore the sequence of the narrative for the reader.
2 sn Captain of the guard. See the note on this phrase in Gen 37:36.
3 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
4 tn Heb “and he was a prosperous man.” This does not mean that Joseph became wealthy, but that he was successful in what he was doing, or making progress in his situation (see 24:21).
5 tn Heb “and he was.”
6 tn The Hebrew text adds “in his hand,” a phrase not included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
7 sn The Hebrew verb translated became his personal attendant refers to higher domestic service, usually along the lines of a personal attendant. Here Joseph is made the household steward, a position well-attested in Egyptian literature.
8 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “put into his hand.”
10 tn Heb “and it was from then.”
11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 sn The Hebrew word translated blessed carries the idea of enrichment, prosperity, success. It is the way believers describe success at the hand of God. The text illustrates the promise made to Abraham that whoever blesses his descendants will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3).
13 tn Heb “in the house and in the field.” The word “both” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
14 sn The passage gives us a good picture of Joseph as a young man who was responsible and faithful, both to his master and to his God. This happened within a very short time of his being sold into Egypt. It undermines the view that Joseph was a liar, a tattletale, and an arrogant adolescent.
15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 sn The Hebrew verb translated left indicates he relinquished the care of it to Joseph. This is stronger than what was said earlier. Apparently Potiphar had come to trust Joseph so much that he knew it was in better care with Joseph than with anyone else.
17 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
18 tn Heb “did not know.”
19 sn The expression except the food he ate probably refers to Potiphar’s private affairs and should not be limited literally to what he ate.
20 tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.
21 tn Heb “she lifted up her eyes toward,” an expression that emphasizes her deliberate and careful scrutiny of him.
22 tn Heb “lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
23 tn Heb “and he said.”
24 tn Heb “know.”
25 tn The word “here” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
26 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
27 tn The nuance of potential imperfect fits this context.
28 tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator, followed by the infinitive construct with the preposition כְּ (kÿ). This clause could therefore be taken as temporal.
29 tn Heb “listen to.”
30 tn Heb “to lie beside her to be with her.” Here the expression “to lie beside” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
31 tn Heb “and it was about this day.”
32 tn Heb “the men of the house.”
33 tn Heb “he fled and he went out.” The construction emphasizes the point that Joseph got out of there quickly.
34 sn For discussion of this episode, see A. M. Honeyman, “The Occasion of Joseph’s Temptation,” VT 2 (1952): 85-87.
35 tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).
36 sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.
37 tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.
38 tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
39 tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”
40 tn Heb “that I raised.”
41 tn Heb “and she spoke to him according to these words, saying.”
42 sn That Hebrew slave. Now, when speaking to her husband, Potiphar’s wife refers to Joseph as a Hebrew slave, a very demeaning description.
43 tn Heb “came to me to make fun of me.” The statement needs no explanation because of the connotations of “came to me” and “to make fun of me.” See the note on the expression “humiliate us” in v. 14.
44 tn Heb “and when his master heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying.”
45 tn Heb “according to these words.”
46 tn Heb “did to me.”
47 tn Heb “his anger burned.”
48 tn Heb “the house of roundness,” suggesting that the prison might have been a fortress or citadel.
49 sn The story of Joseph is filled with cycles and repetition: He has two dreams (chap. 37), he interprets two dreams in prison (chap. 40) and the two dreams of Pharaoh (chap. 41), his brothers make two trips to see him (chaps. 42-43), and here, for the second time (see 37:24), he is imprisoned for no good reason, with only his coat being used as evidence. For further discussion see H. Jacobsen, “A Legal Note on Potiphar’s Wife,” HTR 69 (1976): 177.
50 tn Heb “and he extended to him loyal love.”
51 tn Or “the chief jailer” (also in the following verses).
52 tn Heb “all which they were doing there, he was doing.” This probably means that Joseph was in charge of everything that went on in the prison.
53 tn Heb “was not looking at anything.”
54 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
55 tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”
56 tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.
57 sn The significance of the number “five” in this context is uncertain. For a discussion of various proposals, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:376-77.
58 tc The Hebrew text has עִיר הַהֶרֶס (’ir haheres, “City of Destruction”; cf. NASB, NIV) but this does not fit the positive emphasis of vv. 18-22. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and some medieval Hebrew
59 tn This word is sometimes used of a sacred pillar associated with pagan worship, but here it is associated with the worship of the Lord.
60 tn The masculine noun מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbbeakh, “altar”) in v. 19 is probably the subject of the masculine singular verb הָיָה (hayah) rather than the feminine noun מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “sacred pillar”), also in v. 19.
61 tn Heb “a sign and a witness to the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] in the land of Egypt.”
62 tn רָב (rav) is a substantival participle (from רִיב, riv) meaning “one who strives, contends.”
63 tn Heb “Egypt.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, the present translation uses the pronoun (“they”) here.
64 tn Heb “will know the Lord.”
65 tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV), likewise at the beginning of vv. 23 and 24.
66 tn Heb “he will be entreated.” The Niphal has a tolerative sense here, “he will allow himself to be entreated.”
67 tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.
68 tn Heb “for eating to fullness and for beautiful covering[s].”