Genesis 39

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Had been brought down' (hurad) — the Hophal passive of yarad ('to descend'). Joseph does not go down to Egypt willingly; he is taken down. The verb echoes Judah's voluntary descent in 38:1 (vayyered), creating an ironic contrast: Judah descends by choice into moral compromise, while Joseph descends by force into a place of testing and eventual exaltation.
2. 'Officer' (seris) — this term can mean 'eunuch' or more broadly 'court official.' In many ancient Near Eastern contexts, high-ranking courtiers were eunuchs, but the word had generalized to mean any royal officer. Since Potiphar has a wife, the broader sense of 'officer' is appropriate here, though the ambiguity is part of the Hebrew text.
3. 'Captain of the guard' (sar hattabbachim) — literally 'chief of the slaughterers' or 'chief of the executioners.' The term tabbachim derives from tabach ('to slaughter'), suggesting this was originally a title connected to the royal butchery or execution detail, though by this period it denoted the captain of the royal bodyguard.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD was with Joseph' (vayehi YHWH et-Yosef) — this is the theological thesis statement of the entire chapter. The phrase appears at both the beginning (v. 2) and end (v. 21, 23) of the chapter, forming a literary inclusio. Despite Joseph's enslavement, the narrator insists that the LORD's presence is the decisive factor in his circumstances.
2. 'A man who prospered' (ish matsliach) — from the Hiphil of tsalach, meaning to cause to prosper, to succeed, to advance. The term implies not merely personal success but divine causation — Joseph prospers because the LORD makes him prosper. The same root appears in v. 3 and v. 23, binding the chapter together.

Translator Notes

1. 'His master saw' (vayyar adonav) — remarkably, Potiphar, a pagan Egyptian, perceives the presence of Israel's God with Joseph. The text does not explain how he reached this conclusion — whether through Joseph's testimony, through the observable pattern of blessing, or through some other means. The narrator presents it as simple fact: the LORD's favor on Joseph was visible even to an outsider.
2. 'The LORD caused everything he did to prosper in his hand' — the repeated use of YHWH (the covenant name of God) in an Egyptian context is theologically significant. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not confined to the land of Canaan; His sovereignty extends over Egypt as well.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Found favor' (matsa chen) — the phrase echoes Noah (6:8), who 'found favor in the eyes of the LORD.' Joseph finds favor in the eyes of a human master, foreshadowing the greater favor he will find with Pharaoh himself. The word chen ('grace, favor') implies an undeserved, gracious disposition toward the recipient.
2. 'Appointed him overseer' (vayyafqidehu) — from paqad, 'to appoint, to set over, to entrust.' The Hiphil form emphasizes Potiphar's active decision to place Joseph in authority. This is the first of Joseph's three elevations (Potiphar's house, prison, Pharaoh's court), each following the same pattern: faithful service leading to entrusted authority.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD blessed the Egyptian's house on account of Joseph' (vayevarekh YHWH et-beit hamMitsri biglal Yosef) — this fulfills the Abrahamic promise that through Abraham's seed the nations would be blessed (12:3). Even in slavery, Joseph serves as a conduit of covenant blessing to a Gentile household. The phrase biglal ('on account of, for the sake of') makes the causal connection explicit.
2. 'In the house and in the field' (babayit uvasadeh) — the totality of the blessing is emphasized through this merism. Every domain of Potiphar's life — domestic and agricultural — comes under divine blessing through Joseph.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He did not concern himself with anything except the food that he ate' — the phrase ki im-hallechem asher-hu okhel is often explained as a reference to Egyptian dietary restrictions that prohibited them from eating with foreigners (cf. 43:32). Potiphar retained control only over his personal food consumption, either for reasons of ritual purity or personal custom.
2. 'Handsome in form and handsome in appearance' (yefeh-to'ar viyfeh mar'eh) — this exact phrase is used of only one other person in Genesis: Rachel, Joseph's mother (29:17). The literary echo is deliberate, connecting mother and son. Tragically, Joseph's beauty — like Rachel's — becomes a source of both attraction and complication. This description is placed here as a narrative hinge: it explains what follows in v. 7.
3. The verse functions as a transition. The first half concludes the account of Joseph's rise in Potiphar's house; the second half, with its notice of Joseph's beauty, introduces the crisis that follows.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Lifted up her eyes' (vattissa et-eineiha) — the Hebrew idiom describes a deliberate, purposeful gaze. It is the same expression used when Abraham 'lifts his eyes' to see Mount Moriah (22:4) or Lot 'lifts his eyes' to see the well-watered Jordan plain (13:10). Here, the gaze is one of desire and intent.
2. 'Lie with me' (shikhvah immi) — the bluntness of the command in Hebrew is striking. There is no prelude, no flattery, no negotiation — only a two-word imperative. The narrator's economy conveys the brazenness of the demand. Potiphar's wife is unnamed throughout, identified only by her relation to Joseph's master, keeping the focus on the moral dynamics.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He refused' (vayema'en) — the verb stands emphatically at the head of the sentence, before any explanation. Joseph's refusal is immediate and decisive, not the product of deliberation. The same verb (ma'en) describes Pharaoh's later refusal to release Israel (Exodus 7:14), but here it is used of righteous resistance rather than stubborn rebellion.
2. Joseph's defense is structured in three layers: (1) the trust his master has placed in him (v. 8), (2) the unique position of the wife as the one thing withheld from him (v. 9a), and (3) the theological dimension — sin against God (v. 9b). The argument moves from the relational to the covenantal.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'This great evil' (hara'ah hagedolah hazzot) — Joseph does not minimize the act as a minor transgression. He calls it what it is: a great evil. The word ra'ah encompasses wickedness, harm, and moral evil. Joseph perceives adultery not merely as a violation of social convention but as a fundamental moral offense.
2. 'Sin against God' (vechatati l'Elohim) — the climax of Joseph's refusal. Remarkably, Joseph frames the sin not primarily in terms of betraying Potiphar's trust (though that is acknowledged) but in terms of offending God. The use of Elohim (rather than YHWH) may reflect Joseph's awareness that he is speaking to an Egyptian; alternatively, it may simply express the universal moral dimension of the act. Either way, Joseph recognizes a divine moral order that transcends human relationships.
3. Joseph's reasoning follows the logic of covenant faithfulness: because God is sovereign over all human affairs, every moral choice is ultimately a choice before God. This theological awareness distinguishes Joseph from his brothers, who sold him without apparent regard for divine judgment.

Translator Notes

1. 'Day after day' (yom yom) — the repetition conveys persistent, unrelenting pressure. This was not a single moment of temptation but a sustained campaign of seduction. Joseph's resistance was not a one-time act of will but a daily, disciplined refusal.
2. 'To lie beside her or to be with her' (lishkav etslah lihyot immah) — the Hebrew distinguishes two things Joseph refused: (1) sexual contact ('to lie beside her') and (2) even being in her presence ('to be with her'). Joseph recognized the danger of proximity and avoided situations that could lead to compromise. This detail reflects practical wisdom, not mere moral abstraction.

Translator Notes

1. 'On a certain day' (kehayom hazzeh) — literally 'about this day' or 'on such a day as this.' The phrase marks a turning point in the narrative, shifting from the general pattern (day after day) to a specific, decisive moment.
2. 'To do his work' (la'asot melakhto) — Joseph enters the house for legitimate purposes, faithfully attending to his duties. The narrator makes clear that Joseph was not seeking out Potiphar's wife. Some rabbinic interpreters debated the meaning of 'his work,' but the plain sense is simply his household responsibilities.
3. 'None of the men of the household were there' — the narrator sets the scene with ominous precision. The absence of witnesses creates the conditions for the wife's assault and her subsequent fabrication.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'She seized him by his garment' (vattitpesehu bevigdo) — the verb taphas means to seize, grab, or catch. This is a physical assault. The garment (beged) becomes a pivotal object in the narrative — left behind as false evidence. The word beged is noteworthy because the same root means 'treachery' or 'betrayal' (cf. the verb bagad). The garment that should attest to Joseph's innocence is twisted into evidence of his guilt, a garment of treachery.
2. 'He fled and went outside' (vayyanas vayyetse hachutsah) — Joseph's flight is not cowardice but moral courage. He chooses integrity over comfort, freedom over compromise. The rapid succession of verbs (fled, went out) conveys urgency and decisiveness.
3. The parallel to Joseph's coat in chapter 37 is striking: there, Joseph's garment was stripped from him by his brothers and used as false evidence before Jacob; here, his garment is stripped by Potiphar's wife and used as false evidence before Potiphar. In both cases, the garment testifies falsely against him.

Translator Notes

1. This transitional verse shows the wife calculating her next move. The moment she realizes she holds physical evidence — the garment — she recognizes its potential as a weapon. What was meant to trap Joseph into sin now becomes a tool to frame him for a crime he refused to commit.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A Hebrew man' (ish ivri) — she identifies Joseph by his ethnicity, deploying it as a slur to inflame the household servants' prejudice. The term ivri ('Hebrew') emphasizes Joseph's foreignness in an Egyptian context. By saying 'he brought' (hevi), she blames Potiphar himself for introducing this 'outsider,' attempting to align the servants' resentment against both Joseph and, subtly, her husband.
2. 'To mock us' (letsacheq banu) — the verb tsachaq ('to laugh, to play, to mock') is loaded with sexual overtones in Genesis. It is the same root as Isaac's name (Yitschaq) and was used of Ishmael's behavior toward Isaac (21:9). In 26:8, it describes Isaac 'caressing' (metsacheq) Rebekah. The wife uses this verb ambiguously — it can mean 'to sport with' or 'to make a fool of' — to suggest both sexual assault and public humiliation.
3. Note her manipulation: she shifts from 'he came to me' (singular) to 'to mock us' (plural), enlisting the household servants as fellow victims to gain their solidarity.

Translator Notes

1. She constructs a narrative in which Joseph's flight — actually evidence of his innocence — becomes evidence of guilt. The garment left 'beside me' (etsli) is presented as proof that he was in intimate proximity. Her account reverses the causation: in her telling, Joseph fled because she screamed; in reality, she screamed because he fled. The truth is exactly inverted.

Translator Notes

1. 'She kept his garment beside her' (vattannach bigdo etslah) — the verb nuach in the Hiphil means 'to place, to set down, to lay aside.' She preserves the garment as evidence, holding it like a prosecutor waiting for the judge. The deliberateness of her action — keeping it 'until his master came home' — reveals calculated planning, not the distress of a victim.

Translator Notes

1. 'The Hebrew servant' (ha'eved ha'ivri) — note the escalation from 'a Hebrew man' (v. 14, speaking to servants) to 'the Hebrew servant' (speaking to Potiphar). When addressing the servants, she used 'man' (ish), appealing to their sense of shared vulnerability; when addressing Potiphar, she uses 'servant' (eved), emphasizing Joseph's inferior status and implying that Potiphar should be outraged that someone so low would dare approach his wife.
2. 'Whom you brought to us' (asher heveta lanu) — she explicitly blames Potiphar for Joseph's presence, making her husband complicit in the alleged offense. This is a manipulative rhetorical strategy: by implicating Potiphar, she pressures him to act decisively to absolve himself of responsibility.

Translator Notes

1. The repetition of her account — nearly verbatim from v. 15 — is a deliberate narrative technique. The rehearsed quality of the testimony reveals its fabricated nature. A genuine victim might vary in retelling; a liar repeats a prepared script. The narrator lets the reader perceive the deception through the very precision of her words.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'His anger burned' (vayichar appo) — literally 'his nostril burned.' The Hebrew idiom for anger uses the image of a flaring nostril — the physical sign of fury. The expression is used frequently of God's anger (cf. Exodus 4:14; Numbers 11:1) and of human rage. Potiphar's reaction is immediate and visceral.
2. Some interpreters note that Potiphar's response — imprisonment rather than execution — may suggest he harbored doubts about his wife's story. Under Egyptian law, the penalty for sexual assault on a married woman was death. That Joseph was only imprisoned may indicate that Potiphar suspected the truth but could not publicly side with a slave against his wife. This is textually ambiguous, however, and the narrator does not comment on Potiphar's inner reasoning.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The prison' (bet hassohar) — literally 'the house of roundness' or 'the round house,' perhaps reflecting the architectural shape of the facility. This was not an ordinary jail but a royal prison where the king's own prisoners were confined. Providentially, this placement will bring Joseph into contact with Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker (chapter 40), advancing the divine plan.
2. 'The king's prisoners' (asirei hammelekh) — Joseph is placed among political detainees, not common criminals. This is significant: it places him in the orbit of Pharaoh's court, positioning him for the encounters that will ultimately lead to his exaltation. What appears as a further descent is actually a step toward fulfillment of the dreams.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The LORD was with Joseph' (vayehi YHWH et-Yosef) — the refrain returns, now in the context of imprisonment. The narrator's insistence on divine presence in the darkest circumstances is the theological heartbeat of the Joseph narrative. The LORD was with him in Potiphar's house (v. 2); the LORD is with him in prison (v. 21). The location changes; the presence does not.
2. 'Extended steadfast love to him' (vayyet elav chesed) — the verb natah ('to stretch out, extend, incline') combined with chesed creates a powerful image: God actively reaches toward Joseph with covenant love. Chesed is one of the richest words in the Hebrew Bible — it encompasses loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, and covenantal commitment. It is not mere pity but purposeful, enduring love rooted in relationship.
3. 'Gave him favor' (vayyitten chinno) — literally 'gave his grace.' The same pattern as v. 4 (Joseph found favor with Potiphar), now repeated with the prison keeper. The cycle of divine favor leading to human trust begins again.

Translator Notes

1. The pattern from Potiphar's house repeats exactly in the prison: Joseph is given total authority and responsibility. The narrator draws this parallel deliberately to show that Joseph's character and God's blessing operate consistently regardless of circumstance. Whether in a wealthy household or a royal prison, Joseph rises to leadership because the LORD is with him.
2. 'Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it' (ve'et kol-asher osim sham hu hayah oseh) — this emphatic construction underscores Joseph's complete administrative authority. The prison keeper, like Potiphar before him, delegates everything to Joseph.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The chapter ends exactly as it began — with the declaration that 'the LORD was with him' (YHWH itto) and 'the LORD made it prosper' (YHWH matsliach). This inclusio (literary bookend) frames the entire chapter within the theology of divine presence. Between the opening and closing statements, Joseph has been tempted, falsely accused, and imprisoned — yet the narrator's verdict remains unchanged. The LORD's presence and Joseph's prosperity are not dependent on favorable circumstances but on the covenant faithfulness of God.
2. 'The LORD made it prosper' (YHWH matsliach) — the final word of the chapter is matsliach ('causing to prosper'), the same word used in v. 2. Despite everything — betrayal by brothers, enslavement, false accusation, imprisonment — the chapter's last word is prosperity. Not Joseph's prosperity in human terms, but God's sovereign capacity to bring fruitfulness out of suffering.