~ Joseph and Potiphar ~

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt.
Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard,
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered,
and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him
and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.
Potiphar put him in charge of his household,
and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

. . . Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
and after a while
his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said,
"Come to bed with me!'

But he refused.
"With me in charge," he told here,
"my master does not concern himself
with anything in the house;
everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.
No one is greater in this house than I am.
My master has withheld nothing from me except you,
because you are his wife.
How thing could I do such a wicked thing
and sin against God?"

. . . Then she told him (Potiphar) this story:
"That Hebrew slave you brought us
came to me to make sport of me.
But as soon as I screamed for help,
he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house."

When his master heard the story his wife told him,
saying, "This is how your slave treated me,"
he burned with anger.
Joseph's master took him and put him in prison,
the place where the king's prisoners were confined.

But while Joseph was there in the prison,
the Lord was with him;
He showed him kindness
and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
So the warden put Joseph in charge
of all those held in the prison,
and he was made responsible
for all that was done there.
The warden paid no attention
to anything under Joseph's care,
because the Lord was with Joseph
and gave him success in whatever he did.

(Genesis 39:1-4, 6.5-9, 17-23)