Joseph in Potiphar’s house and in prison
Patriarchs · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 1e9e2fd75b576d52 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Joseph aged 17–30
The LORD is with Joseph, and he rises to run the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, he is thrown into prison, where he is again put in charge. He interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker, but the restored cupbearer forgets him.
Primary Scripture
39:1 Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
39:2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.
39:3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did,
39:4 Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned.
39:5 From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field.
39:6 So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
39:7 and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
39:8 But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care.
39:9 No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”
39:10 Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her.
39:11 One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside.
39:12 She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
39:13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,
39:14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could.
39:15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
39:16 So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home.
39:17 Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me,
39:18 but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
39:19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger.
39:20 So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,
39:21 the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
39:22 And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison.
39:23 The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
40:1 Some time later, the king’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.
40:2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
40:3 and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined.
40:4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,
40:5 both of these men—the Egyptian king’s cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison—had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.
40:6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were distraught.
40:7 So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”
40:8 “We both had dreams,” they replied, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
40:9 So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream: “In my dream there was a vine before me,
40:10 and on the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms opened and its clusters ripened into grapes.
40:11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into his cup, and placed the cup in his hand.”
40:12 Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days.
40:13 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you did when you were his cupbearer.
40:14 But when it goes well for you, please remember me and show me kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh, that he might bring me out of this prison.
40:15 For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”
40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: There were three baskets of white bread on my head.
40:17 In the top basket were all sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
40:18 Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three baskets are three days.
40:19 Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”
40:20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he held a feast for all his officials, and in their presence he lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.
40:21 Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.
40:22 But Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had described to them in his interpretation.
40:23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot all about him.
Location evidence
Event map marker: Approximate region; [longitude, latitude] = [31.3075, 30.129444]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Egypt: Approximate region. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [31.3075, 30.129444]. Classification source: editorial.
For the class
What does “the LORD was with Joseph” mean when things keep going wrong?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/patriarchs.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm