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¹ Meanwhile, the descendants of Ishmael took Joseph down to Egypt. There Potiphar bought Joseph from them. Potiphar was an Egyptian who was one of the king's officials and the captain of the king's palace guards. ² Because Yahweh helped Joseph, he was able to do his work very well. He worked in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that Yahweh was helping Joseph and enabling him to succeed in everything that he did. ⁴ Joseph's master was pleased with him, so he appointed him to be his personal servant. Then he appointed him to be the one who would take care of everything in his household and all of his possessions. ⁵ From the time Potiphar appointed Joseph to take care of everything in his household and all that he owned, Yahweh blessed the people who lived in Potiphar's house because of Joseph. He also caused Potiphar's crops to grow well. ⁶ Potiphar allowed Joseph to take care of everything that he owned. Potiphar needed to decide only about the food he ate. He did not worry about anything else in his house.

Now Joseph was well built and handsome.

⁷ Because of that, after a while, his master's wife started to look fondly at Joseph. So one day she said to him, "Sleep with me!" ⁸ But he refused, saying to his master's wife, "Listen! My master is not concerned about anything in this house. He has appointed me to take care of everything that he owns. ⁹ No one in this household has more authority than I do. The only thing that he has not allowed me to have is you, because you are his wife! So how could I do this wicked thing that you are asking me to do? I would be sinning against God if I did that!" ¹⁰ She kept on asking Joseph day after day to sleep with her, but he refused. He would not even go near her.

¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the other household servants were in the house. ¹² Potiphar's wife grabbed his clothing and said, "Sleep with me!" Joseph ran out of the house, but his clothing was still in her hand! ¹³ When she saw that he had run outside leaving his clothing in her hand, ¹⁴ she called the household servants. She said to them, "Look! This Hebrew man that my husband brought to us is insulting us! He came into where I was and tried to force me to sleep with him, but I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ As soon as he heard me scream, he left his clothing with me and ran outside!" ¹⁶ She kept the clothing beside her until her husband, Joseph's master, came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: "That Hebrew slave whom you brought here came into where I was and tried to force me to sleep with him! ¹⁸ As soon as I screamed loudly, he ran outside, leaving his clothing beside me!" ¹⁹ When Joseph's master heard this story that his wife told him, and when she said, "This is how your slave treated me," he was very angry. ²⁰ Joseph's master took Joseph and put him in prison, in the place where all the king's prisoners were put, and Joseph stayed there.

²¹ But Yahweh was kind to Joseph and helped him because of his covenant with his ancestors; he caused the prison warden to be pleased with him. ²² So the prison warden put Joseph in charge of all those who were in the prison, and in charge of all the work that was done there. ²³ The warden was not concerned with anything that Joseph was taking care of, because Yahweh helped Joseph to do all his work well.