Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
The
Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the king’s official
in charge of the palace guard. So Joseph lived in the home of Potiphar, his
Egyptian owner. Soon Potiphar realized that the LORD was helping Joseph to be
successful in whatever he did. Potiphar liked Joseph and made him his personal
assistant, putting him in charge of his house and all of his property. Because
of Joseph, the LORD began to bless Potiphar’s family and fields. Potiphar left
everything up to Joseph, and with Joseph there, the only decision he had to
make was what he wanted to eat.
Joseph
was well-built and handsome, and Potiphar’s wife soon noticed him. She asked
him to make love to her, but he refused and said, “My master isn’t worried
about anything in his house, because he has placed me in charge of everything
he owns. No one in my master’s house is more important than I am. The only
thing he hasn’t given me is you, and that’s because you are his wife.
I won’t sin against God by doing such a terrible
thing as this.” She kept begging Joseph day after day, but he refused to do
what she wanted or even to go near One day, Joseph went to Potiphar’s house to
do his work, and none of the other servants were there. Potiphar’s wife grabbed
hold of his coat and said,
“Make love to me!” Joseph ran out of the
house, leaving her hanging onto his When this happened, she called in her
servants and said, “Look! This Hebrew has come just to make fools of us. He
tried to rape me, but I screamed for help. And when he heard me scream, he ran
out of the house, leaving his coat with me.”
Potiphar’s
wife kept Joseph’s coat until her husband came home. Then she said, “That
Hebrew slave of yours tried to rape me! But when I screamed for help, he left
his coat and ran out of the house.”
Potiphar
became very angry and threw Joseph in the same prison where the king’s prisoners were kept. While Joseph was
in prison, the LORD helped him and was good to him.
He even made the jailer like Joseph so much
that he put him in charge of the other prisoners and of everything that was
done in the jail. The jailer did not worry about anything, because the LORD was
with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did. (CEV)
This reading is taken from 30 Scripture
Readings with the Great Men of the Bible. The
complete book can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ZK5H3C/ref=nosim?tag=hudsonbcom-20&linkCode=sb1&camp=212353&creative=380549
The HOLY BIBLE, CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION copyright ©
1997, 1997 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights
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