Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

¹Now the Ishmaelites had taken Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, one of the king's officers, who was the captain of the palace guard.

²The Lord was with Joseph and made him successful. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master,

³who saw that the Lord was with Joseph and had made him successful in everything he did.

⁴Potiphar was pleased with him and made him his personal servant; so he put him in charge of his house and everything he owned.

⁵From then on, because of Joseph the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian and everything that he had in his house and in his fields.

⁶Potiphar turned over everything he had to the care of Joseph and did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Joseph was well-built and good-looking,

⁷and after a while his master's wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her.

⁸He refused and said to her, “Look, my master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has.

⁹I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?”

¹⁰Although she asked Joseph day after day, he would not go to bed with her.

¹¹But one day when Joseph went into the house to do his work, none of the house servants was there.

¹²She caught him by his robe and said, “Come to bed with me.” But he escaped and ran outside, leaving his robe in her hand.

¹³When she saw that he had left his robe and had run out of the house,

¹⁴she called to her house servants and said, “Look at this! This Hebrew that my husband brought to the house is insulting us. He came into my room and tried to rape me, but I screamed as loud as I could.

¹⁵When he heard me scream, he ran outside, leaving his robe beside me.”

¹⁶She kept his robe with her until Joseph's master came home.

¹⁷Then she told him the same story: “That Hebrew slave that you brought here came into my room and insulted me.

¹⁸But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his robe beside me.”

¹⁹Joseph's master was furious

²⁰and had Joseph arrested and put in the prison where the king's prisoners were kept, and there he stayed.

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and blessed him, so that the jailer was pleased with him.

²²He put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and made him responsible for everything that was done in the prison.

²³The jailer did not have to look after anything for which Joseph was responsible, because the Lord was with Joseph and made him succeed in everything he did.

Joseph Interprets the Prisoners' Dreams

¹Some time later the king of Egypt's wine steward and his chief baker offended the king.

²He was angry with these two officials

³and put them in prison in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same place where Joseph was being kept.

⁴They spent a long time in prison, and the captain assigned Joseph as their servant.

⁵One night there in prison the wine steward and the chief baker each had a dream, and the dreams had different meanings.

⁶When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were upset.

⁷He asked them, “Why do you look so worried today?”

⁸They answered, “Each of us had a dream, and there is no one here to explain what the dreams mean.” “It is God who gives the ability to interpret dreams,” Joseph said. “Tell me your dreams.”

⁹So the wine steward said, “In my dream there was a grapevine in front of me

¹⁰with three branches on it. As soon as the leaves came out, the blossoms appeared, and the grapes ripened.

¹¹I was holding the king's cup; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup and gave it to him.”

¹²Joseph said, “This is what it means: the three branches are three days.

¹³In three days the king will release you, pardon you, and restore you to your position. You will give him his cup as you did before when you were his wine steward.

¹⁴But please remember me when everything is going well for you, and please be kind enough to mention me to the king and help me get out of this prison.

¹⁵After all, I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here in Egypt I didn't do anything to deserve being put in prison.”

¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation of the wine steward's dream was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I had a dream too; I was carrying three breadbaskets on my head.

¹⁷In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for the king, and the birds were eating them.”

¹⁸Joseph answered, “This is what it means: the three baskets are three days.

¹⁹In three days the king will release you—and have your head cut off! Then he will hang your body on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

²⁰On his birthday three days later the king gave a banquet for all his officials; he released his wine steward and his chief baker and brought them before his officials.

²¹He restored the wine steward to his former position,

²²but he executed the chief baker. It all happened just as Joseph had said.

²³But the wine steward never gave Joseph another thought—he forgot all about him.

¹I have made a solemn promise never to look with lust at a woman.

²What does Almighty God do to us? How does he repay human deeds?

³He sends disaster and ruin to those who do wrong.

⁴God knows everything I do; he sees every step I take.

⁵I swear I have never acted wickedly and never tried to deceive others.

⁶Let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will see how innocent I am.

⁷If I have turned from the right path or let myself be attracted to evil, if my hands are stained with sin,

⁸then let my crops be destroyed, or let others eat the food I grow.

⁹If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife, and waited, hidden, outside her door,

¹⁰then let my wife cook another man's food and sleep in another man's bed.

¹¹Such wickedness should be punished by death.

¹²It would be like a destructive, hellish fire, consuming everything I have.

¹³When any of my servants complained against me, I would listen and treat them fairly.

¹⁴If I did not, how could I then face God? What could I say when God came to judge me?

¹⁵The same God who created me created my servants also.

¹⁶I have never refused to help the poor; never have I let widows live in despair

¹⁷or let orphans go hungry while I ate.

¹⁸All my life I have taken care of them.

¹⁹When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes,

²⁰I would give him clothing made of wool that had come from my own flock of sheep. Then he would praise me with all his heart.

²¹If I have ever cheated an orphan, knowing I could win in court,

²²then may my arms be broken; may they be torn from my shoulders.

²³Because I fear God's punishment, I could never do such a thing.

²⁴I have never trusted in riches

²⁵or taken pride in my wealth.

²⁶I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness or the moon in all its beauty.

²⁷I have not been led astray to honor them by kissing my hand in reverence to them.

²⁸Such a sin should be punished by death; it denies Almighty God.

²⁹I have never been glad when my enemies suffered, or pleased when they met with disaster;

³⁰I never sinned by praying for their death.

³¹All those who work for me know that I have always welcomed strangers.

³²I invited travelers into my home and never let them sleep in the streets.

³³Others try to hide their sins, but I have never concealed mine.

³⁴I have never feared what people would say; I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors because I feared their scorn.

³⁵Will no one listen to what I am saying? I swear that every word is true. Let Almighty God answer me. If the charges my opponent brings against me were written down so that I could see them,

³⁶I would wear them proudly on my shoulder and place them on my head like a crown.

³⁷I would tell God everything I have done, and hold my head high in his presence.

³⁸If I have stolen the land I farm and taken it from its rightful owners—

³⁹if I have eaten the food that grew there but let the farmers that grew it starve—

⁴⁰then instead of wheat and barley, may weeds and thistles grow. The words of Job are ended.

The Speeches of Elihu

¹Because Job was convinced of his own innocence, the three men gave up trying to answer him.

²But a bystander named Elihu could not control his anger any longer, because Job was justifying himself and blaming God. (Elihu was the son of Barakel, a descendant of Buz, and belonged to the clan of Ram.)

³He was also angry with Job's three friends. They could not find any way to answer Job, and this made it appear that God was in the wrong.

⁴Because Elihu was the youngest one there, he had waited until everyone finished speaking.

⁵When he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he was angry

Elihu

⁶and began to speak. I am young, and you are old, so I was afraid to tell you what I think.

⁷I told myself that you ought to speak, that you older men should share your wisdom.

⁸But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to us and gives us wisdom.

⁹It is not growing old that makes us wise or helps us to know what is right.

¹⁰So now I want you to listen to me; let me tell you what I think.

¹¹I listened patiently while you were speaking and waited while you searched for wise phrases.

¹²I paid close attention and heard you fail; you have not disproved what Job has said.

¹³How can you claim you have discovered wisdom? God must answer Job, for you have failed.

¹⁴Job was speaking to you, not to me, but I would never answer the way you did.

¹⁵Words have failed them, Job; they have no answer for you.

¹⁶Shall I go on waiting when they are silent? They stand there with nothing more to say.

¹⁷No, I will give my own answer now and tell you what I think.

¹⁸I can hardly wait to speak. I can't hold back the words.

¹⁹If I don't get a chance to speak, I will burst like a wineskin full of new wine.

²⁰I can't stand it; I have to speak.

²¹I will not take sides in this debate; I am not going to flatter anyone.

²²I don't know how to flatter, and God would quickly punish me if I did.

³³The Lord puts a curse on the homes of the wicked, but blesses the homes of the righteous.

³⁴He has no use for conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble.

³⁵Wise people will gain an honorable reputation, but stupid people will only add to their own disgrace.