Genesis 39:6

39:6 So Potiphar ¹  left ²  everything he had in Joseph’s care; ³  he gave no thought ⁴  to anything except the food he ate. ⁵ 

Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. ⁶ 

Proverbs 6:25

6:25 Do not lust ⁷  in your heart for her beauty,

and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; ⁸ 

Proverbs 31:30

31:30 Charm is deceitful ⁹  and beauty is fleeting, ¹⁰ 

but a woman who fears the Lord ¹¹  will be praised.

[39:6]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[39:6]  ² 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.

[39:6]  ³ tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.

[39:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “did not know.”

[39:6]  ⁵ 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.

[39:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.

[6:25]  ⁷ tn The negated jussive gives the young person an immediate warning. The verb חָמַד (khamad) means “to desire,” and here in the sense of lust. The word is used in the Decalogue of Deut 5:21 for the warning against coveting.

[6:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “her eyelids” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “eyelashes”; TEV “flirting eyes”). This term is a synecdoche of part (eyelids) for the whole (eyes) or a metonymy of association for painted eyes and the luring glances that are the symptoms of seduction (e.g., 2 Kgs 9:30). The term “alluring” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[31:30]  ⁹ tn The first word of the twenty-first line begins with שׁ (shin), the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The graphic distinction between שׁ (shin) and שׂ (sin) had not been made at the time the book of Proverbs was written; that graphic distinction was introduced by the Masoretes, ca. a.d. 1000.

[31:30]  ¹⁰ sn The verse shows that “charm” and “beauty” do not endure as do those qualities that the fear of the Lord produces. Charm is deceitful: One may be disappointed in the character of the one with beauty. Beauty is vain (fleeting as a vapor): Physical appearance will not last. The writer is not saying these are worthless; he is saying there is something infinitely more valuable.

[31:30]  ¹¹ sn This chapter describes the wise woman as fearing the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom – that was the motto of the book (1:7). Psalm 111:10 also repeats that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.