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📖 Check Your Understanding
2
The Story
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Joseph's story goes on in Egypt: “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt” (39:1). Potiphar, “an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard,” bought him.
The Lord was with Joseph. Joseph has lost everything: his home, his father, his tunic, his freedom. But the very next words are: “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man” (39:2). Joseph could not see it yet, but God had not left him. Again and again this chapter tells us that the LORD was with Joseph.
Faithful in small things. Joseph does not sulk or refuse to work. He serves so well that “his master saw that the LORD was with him” (39:3). Even an Egyptian officer who did not worship Israel's God could see God at work in Joseph's life.
A blessing to others. Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of everything, and “the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake” (39:5). This is what God promised Abraham: “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:3). Through Joseph, the blessing reaches an Egyptian household.
In 39:1-6 Joseph begins his new life as a slave in Egypt, and God is with him.
Back to Joseph. 39:1 repeats 37:36 almost word for word, after chapter 38 tells of Judah and Tamar. Judah's moral failure in chapter 38 sits right beside Joseph's faithfulness in chapter 39, and the two brothers could hardly be more different.
The divine name. Chapter 37 never names God. Chapter 39 uses the covenant name YHWH (the LORD) again and again (39:2, 3, 5, 21, 23), and almost nowhere else in chapters 37-50. Joseph could not see it yet, but the LORD was present with him in slavery and in prison.
Prosperity in servitude. “He was a successful man” (39:2). The word matsliach (say: mahts-LEE-akh) means someone whose work prospers. It is not about wealth: everything Joseph did succeeded, because the LORD made it succeed. Potiphar “saw” it (39:3). The brothers had used their eyes for envy in 37:4; Potiphar uses his to recognize God at work.
Blessing to the nations. “The LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake” (39:5) echoes 30:27 (Laban blessed for Jacob's sake) and is a small fulfillment of the promise to Abraham (12:3).
Faithfulness in service. Joseph's hard work as a slave looks ahead to the New Testament's call to work “as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Faithfulness does not wait for better conditions.
39:6b. “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance” uses the same Hebrew description used of Rachel (29:17). It leads into the temptation.
Joseph was far from home now. He was a slave in Egypt. A man named Potiphar had bought him. Potiphar was an important officer of the king. Joseph could have been sad and angry all the time. But he worked hard and did his best. He did his work as if he were working for God. And the Bible says, “The Lord was with Joseph.” Potiphar noticed it. He saw that God made everything Joseph did go well. So Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his whole house. God even blessed Potiphar's house because of Joseph. He was a blessing to the people around him.
Joseph was a slave far away in Egypt. But the Lord was with him. God helped Joseph do very good work.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
How can you do your best work, even when things are hard?
Joseph's success brings a new danger.
The temptation. Potiphar's wife “cast longing eyes on Joseph” and tried to get him to sleep with her (39:7). Joseph was a young man, far from home, a slave. Nobody from his family would ever know.
Joseph's answer. “But he refused” (39:8). He gives his reasons. First, it would betray Potiphar: “My master… has committed all that he has to my hand… nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife” (39:8-9). Second, and most important: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (39:9).
Sin against God. Joseph sees that every sin is first a sin against God. King David later prayed, “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). Joseph's faith shaped his choices even when no one was watching.
Day by day. “As she spoke to Joseph day by day… he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her” (39:10). Joseph not only said no; he stayed away from her. Saying no once is hard. Saying no every day takes real faithfulness.
In 39:7-10 Joseph is tempted, and he refuses with clear reasons.
The approach. Potiphar's wife makes a blunt demand (39:7), only two words in Hebrew. She wanted Joseph to sleep with her, and the Bible says so plainly and briefly.
The refusal.Vayema'en, “but he refused” (39:8), is the turning point. Joseph did not hesitate or bargain. Then he explained himself, and it is the longest speech he gives in the chapter.
The argument. Joseph appeals first to trust and stewardship (39:8-9a), then to God: “How then can I do this great wickedness (hara'ah haggedolah), and sin against God?” (39:9b). For Joseph, the deepest problem was not getting caught or even wronging his master. Sin is first of all against God, as David also confessed in Psalm 51:4.
Persistence. “Day by day” (yom after yom, 39:10) describes pressure that kept coming. Joseph refused not only the act but even being near her: “to lie with her or to be with her.” Proverbs 4:23 and 2 Timothy 2:22 teach the same wisdom of guarding the heart and fleeing temptation.
Contrast with chapter 38. Judah, a free man among his own people, gave in to sexual sin (38:15-18); Joseph, a slave among foreigners, resisted. Freedom and comfort did not keep Judah from sin, and hardship did not push Joseph into it.
Learning from Joseph. Joseph's reasoning gives you a model for your own temptations: name the wrong honestly, think of the person it would hurt, and ask how it touches your relationship with God. The question “How can I sin against God?” turns a rule into a matter of love for Him.
Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to treat her like his wife. That would be a terrible sin. Joseph said no. He said, “My master trusts me with everything in his house.” “He has kept nothing from me except you.” “How can I do such an evil thing?” “It would be a sin against God.” Joseph cared about what God thought most of all. Nobody else might ever know. But God would know. But Potiphar's wife did not give up. She asked him day after day. And every day Joseph kept saying no. He even stayed away from her.
Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to do wrong. Joseph said, “No! That is a sin against God.” He kept saying no.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
Why is it important to say no to something wrong?
Then came the day when Joseph could not avoid her.
Alone in the house. “Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside” (39:11). He was just doing his job.
He ran. “She caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside” (39:12). Joseph did not stop to argue or to get his garment back. He ran. Paul later told Timothy, “Flee also youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22). Sometimes the bravest thing is to run.
A garment again. For the second time, Joseph loses a garment, and for the second time it is used to tell a lie about him. His brothers used his tunic to deceive his father (37:31-32). Now Potiphar's wife uses his garment to accuse him.
The lie. She calls the servants: “See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice” (39:14). She turns the story upside down. Joseph did right, and she makes it look as if he did wrong.
In 39:11-15 the pressure turns into a crisis and a false accusation.
Opportunity. “None of the men of the house was inside” (39:11). With no witnesses, the moment was more dangerous, and afterward Joseph had no way to defend himself.
Flight. She seizes his beged, garment (39:12). Joseph's flight is complete: he “fled and ran outside.” 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee sexual immorality,” and 2 Timothy 2:22 call for exactly this response. Resisting here does not mean staying to argue; it means getting out fast.
Joseph's garments. Joseph's garments mark the turns of his life: the tunic of his father's favor stripped and bloodied (37:23, 31), the garment left in a woman's hand (39:12), and later the garments of fine linen from Pharaoh (41:42). Twice a garment was used to tell a lie about him.
The accusation. Her speech to the household (39:14-15) shifts blame to Potiphar (“he has brought in to us a Hebrew”), stirs up prejudice against a foreigner (“a Hebrew”), and turns the facts upside down. The garment becomes false evidence.
Ethnic prejudice. “A Hebrew” (39:14, 17) is the first use of the term since 14:13. By claiming the household had been insulted (“to mock us”), she uses Joseph's foreignness as a weapon. False accusations often lean on prejudice to make a lie believable. God's people are called to stand with those who are falsely accused.
One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. Nobody else was inside. Potiphar's wife grabbed Joseph by his coat. She tried again to get him to sin. This time Joseph could not just walk away slowly. Joseph did not stay to argue. He ran out of the house! He left his coat behind in her hand. Then she called the other servants. She showed them the coat. She told them a lie. She said Joseph had tried to hurt her. It was not true at all. Joseph had done what was right.
She grabbed Joseph's coat. Joseph ran away as fast as he could! Then she told a big lie about him.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
What can you do if someone tries to get you to do wrong?
Joseph's faithfulness seems to cost him everything.
The second lie. She keeps the garment until Potiphar comes home and tells him the same story: “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me” (39:16-18). “His anger was aroused” (39:19).
Prison. “Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined” (39:20). Joseph had done right and been punished for it. The psalm later says, “They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons” (Psalm 105:18).
But the LORD. Then the turn: “But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison” (39:21). The same words from the start of the chapter return. God was with Joseph in Potiphar's house, and God was with him in prison.
Trusted again. The prison keeper puts Joseph in charge of all the prisoners, “because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper” (39:22-23). Doing right does not always bring good things right away. But God never leaves those who trust Him.
In 39:16-23 Joseph falls from trusted servant to prisoner, yet the LORD is still with him.
The accusation repeated. To Potiphar she says, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us” (39:17), again blaming her husband. “His anger was aroused” (39:19), but we are not told at whom. A slave accused of such a crime could have been executed, so prison may suggest Potiphar had some doubts. We cannot be sure.
No defense recorded. We read no word from Joseph in his own defense. Whether he was silent or simply not heard, he reminds us of the Servant who “opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).
The prison. “A place where the king's prisoners were confined” (39:20) is beit hassohar, perhaps “round house” or fortress. It places Joseph exactly where Pharaoh's officials will be held (40:3), and God will use that in the next chapter.
The same God, start to finish. “The LORD was with Joseph” comes at the start and the end of the chapter (39:2-3, 21-23). The only addition at the end is chesed (say: KHEH-sed), God's faithful, covenant love, translated “mercy” in 39:21. Joseph's situation has collapsed; God's presence has not changed.
Suffering for righteousness. 1 Peter 2:19-20 commends patient endurance of unjust suffering; 1 Peter 2:22-23 grounds it in Christ, “who committed no sin,” falsely accused and condemned. Joseph walked the same road long before.
Potiphar's wife kept Joseph's coat. When Potiphar came home, she told him the same lie. Potiphar believed her. He was very angry. He put Joseph in the king's prison. Joseph had said no to sin. He had done what was right. But he was punished anyway. That was not fair. Joseph must have felt so sad and alone. But the Bible says, “The Lord was with Joseph.” God was kind to him in prison. Soon Joseph was in charge of all the other prisoners. God had not forgotten him for a moment.
Joseph was put in prison. But the Lord was with him there too. God never, ever left Joseph.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
When you are treated unfairly, what can you remember about God?
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📚 Story Questions
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The Gospel Connection
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A good choice, but not a perfect man. Joseph's “no” is one of the bravest moments in Genesis. But Joseph was not sinless, and neither are we. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Trying harder is not enough. Being good some of the time cannot pay for the times we are not. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Joseph's story is not mainly about how good Joseph was. It is about how faithful God was. The LORD was with Joseph from the beginning to the end of the chapter.
The perfect One. Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Like Joseph, He was falsely accused: “many false witnesses came forward” (Matthew 26:60). He too was punished though innocent. But Jesus went further. He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). He died in our place, and God raised Him from the dead.
Our response. Trust Jesus for forgiveness, and ask Him for help to say no to sin. “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And when we are treated unfairly, we can trust the God who was with Joseph in prison and who raised Jesus from the grave. Because Jesus was faithful for us, we can be forgiven even for the times we were not faithful.
Genesis 39 shows Joseph as a model of faithfulness under pressure. Yet the rest of the Bible makes clear that our faithfulness alone cannot solve the problem of sin. Romans 3:23 includes Joseph as well as Judah.
The limits of moral example. Joseph's refusal is admirable, but moral examples cannot remove guilt already incurred or change the heart. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The gospel is not first “be like Joseph” but “trust the One Joseph points to.”
The sinless High Priest. Hebrews 4:15 describes Christ as “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” His victory over temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) is more than an example. He stood in our place as our representative, and He succeeds where Adam, Israel and we fail.
The innocent condemned. Joseph is imprisoned on false testimony; Christ is condemned on false testimony (Matthew 26:59-60) and stays silent before His accusers (Mark 15:3; Isaiah 53:7). 1 Peter 2:22-24 joins His innocence to His substitution: “who committed no sin… who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree.” Joseph suffered unjustly; Christ suffered unjustly and for the unjust (1 Peter 3:18). God raised Him.
Grace that trains. Titus 2:11-12 says the grace that saves also teaches us to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts.” Union with Christ supplies both forgiveness and the power to flee temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Presence in suffering. The refrain “the LORD was with Joseph” points ahead to the gospel's central promise. In Christ, God is “Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). The innocent sufferer of Genesis 39 is not abandoned, and the innocent Sufferer of the Gospels, though forsaken on the cross for our sake (Matthew 27:46), is vindicated in resurrection. Believers who suffer unjustly are therefore never alone (Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:20).
Response. The fitting response is faith that rests on Christ's obedience rather than our own, repentance where we have yielded, and renewed resolve to flee temptation in the strength He supplies. Joseph's question, “How then can I… sin against God?”, becomes for the Christian a question asked in the light of the cross: having been bought at such a price, how can we treat sin lightly? Grace does not make holiness optional; it makes it possible, and it supplies forgiveness when we fall.
Joseph said no to a big sin. That was good and brave. But Joseph was not perfect. Nobody is, except Jesus.
We all give in to wrong things sometimes. The Bible says everyone has sinned. We cannot fix that by trying harder.
Jesus was tempted too, but He never sinned. Like Joseph, people told lies about Him. Like Joseph, He was punished for nothing He did. But Jesus took the punishment for our sins. He died on the cross. Then God raised Him from the dead!
When we trust Jesus, He forgives us. He also helps us say no and run from wrong. And when life is unfair, He stays with us. He was with Joseph, and He is with us. We are never alone, even on our worst days.
Joseph said no to sin.
But we all do wrong things.
Jesus never sinned at all.
He died on the cross for us.
Then He came back to life!
Jesus helps us say no.
👨👩👧 Parent Prompt
How does knowing Jesus was tempted help you when you are tempted?
📖 Complete the Open Bible section first!
✝️ Gospel Questions
4
Memory Verse
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“How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
— Genesis 39:9 (NKJV)
💡 What This Verse Means
Joseph said this when Potiphar's wife tried to get him to do something very wrong. “Wickedness” means evil, something deeply wrong. Joseph could have thought, “Nobody will ever find out.” He was far from home and his family. But Joseph knew God would know. More than that, he loved God and did not want to hurt Him. So he asked, “How could I do this and sin against God?” Every time we do wrong, we are sinning against God, not just against other people. That is why Joseph said no. You can use Joseph's question when you are tempted to lie, cheat, take something or be unkind. Ask yourself, “How can I sin against God, who loves me so much?” And remember that God always gives a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). Joseph did not say this only once. He kept saying no, day after day. Saying it over and over made him stronger each time. You can practice that too: the more you say no to sin, the easier it becomes.
Joseph's question, ve'eych e'eseh hara'ah haggedolah hazzo't vechata'ti l'Elohim, joins a moral description (“this great wickedness”) with a spiritual one (“sin against God”). The first clause owns the betrayal of Potiphar's trust; the second names the deepest offense: it would be against God. Joseph uses the general word Elohim as he speaks to an Egyptian, but the chapter around him keeps using the covenant name YHWH, because the LORD was with him. Psalm 51:4 voices the same conviction from the other side of failure: “Against You, You only, have I sinned.” Joseph's resistance is not mere self-control but reverence; Proverbs 9:10 calls “the fear of the LORD” the beginning of wisdom. For the believer, the gospel deepens the question: knowing what our sin cost at the cross, how can we keep living in it (Romans 6:1-2)? The verse is also a question, not a rule. Joseph does not simply quote a command; he asks how such an act could fit with who he is before God. You can ask the same question and make it your own. When you are tempted, your identity as someone loved, redeemed and filled with God's Spirit becomes the reason you say no: “You are not your own… therefore glorify God” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Joseph said this when he was tempted to do wrong. “Wickedness” means something very evil. Joseph knew that sin hurts God. So he said no. We can ask Joseph's question when we are tempted. “How can I sin against God?” God always helps us find a way out. He loves us and wants what is best. Saying no to sin is saying yes to God. Joseph showed us how.
Joseph said no to that sin. He loved God very much. We can say no to wrong things too, with God's kind help.
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Cause & Effect ⚡
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Every Cause Has an Effect!
Jesus acted with purpose — and every action pointed to the resurrection.
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Rapid Fire True or False
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