As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
Parallel Translations
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As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
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And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
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And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Genesis 39:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! “Every sin that a man does is outside the body,” but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33 Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.
- 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Genesis 39:8 But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, my master doesn’t know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand.
- Proverbs 2:16 to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words,
- Proverbs 1:15 My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path,
- Proverbs 5:3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,
- Proverbs 5:8 Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,
- Proverbs 6:25-26 Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids. For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
- Proverbs 7:5 that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words.
- Proverbs 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him:
- Proverbs 9:14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,
- Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.
- Proverbs 23:27 For a prostitute is a deep pit; and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
- Proverbs 9:16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.” as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,
- 1 Timothy 5:14 I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. As she spake to Joseph day by day.…
10. As she spake to Joseph day by day. The constancy of Joseph is commended; from which it appears that a real fear of God reigned in his mind. Whence it came to pass that he not only repelled one attack, but stood forth, to the last, the conqueror of all temptations. We know how easy it is to fall when Satan tempts us through another: because we seem exempt from blame, if he who induces us to commit the crime, bears a part of it. Holy Joseph, therefore, must have been endowed with the extraordinary power of the Spirit, seeing that he stood invincible to the last, against all the allurements of the impious woman. So much the more detestable is the wickedness of her, who is neither corrected by time, nor restrained by many repulses. When she sees a stranger, and one who had been sold as a slave, so discreet and so faithful to his master, when she is also sacredly admonished by him not to provoke the anger of God, how indomitable is that lust which gives no place to shame. Now, because we here see into what evils persons will rush, when regard to propriety is extinguished by carnal intemperance, we must entreat the Lord that He will not suffer the light of his Spirit to be quenched within us.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she…
Gen 39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, [or] to be with her.
Ver. 10. And it came to pass, as she spake, &c.] A violent temptation valiantly withstood and vanquished; and that by the force of the fear of God, that powerful grace where it may bear sway. Alexander, Scipio, Pompey, tempted with the exquisiteness and variety of choicest beauties, forbare that villany; not for conscience’ sake, or fear of God, whom they knew not, but lest thereby they should stop the current of their victories, and obscure the glory of their remarkable valour. But what saith Cyprian? As it is the greatest pleasure to have overcome pleasure, so there is no such victory as that that is gotten over a man’s lusts. This none but a Joseph fearing God can do. For "the fear of the Lord is pure," saith David: {Psa 19:9} it "is to hate evil," not forbear it only, saith Solomon; and he instanceth in inward evils, as pride, arrogancy, &c., so unchaste thoughts, lustful vipers, and hankerings after strange flesh. These the fear of God purgeth upon and represseth; not suffering a man to sin, though he could do it so closely and covertly that the world should be never the wiser. Lo, this is chastity: and it differs herein from continency, which is the best we can say for those heathens aforementioned. The continent person refrains the outward act of uncleanness, either for love of praise or fear of punishment, but not without grief; for inwardly he is scalded with boiling lust. Whereas the chaste man, like St Paul’s virgin, {1Co 7:34} is "holy both in body and in spirit"; and this with delight, out of fear of God and love of virtue. Now, if upon such a ground we can refuse proffered pleasures and preferments, resolving rather to lie in the dust with Joseph than to rise by wicked principles, the trial is as sound as if we had endured the tortures of the rack. {Heb 11:35}
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As she spake to Joseph day by day.] Satan will not be said with a little, nor sit down by a light repulse. A man must give him a peremptory denial (απαρνησασθω) again and again, as our Saviour did; and yet the tempter departed not, but for a season. He is called Beelzebub, that is, the Master Fly, because he is impudent as a fly, and soon returns to the bait from which he was beaten. He will be egging us again and again to the same sin, and try every way to overturn us. Many times he tempts by extremes, as he did Mr John Knox, on his deathbed; first, to despair, by setting before him his sins; and, when foiled there, afterwards to presumption, and challenging of heaven as his due, for his many good works, and zeal in the Scottish Reformation. {a} So he dealt here by Joseph. He first set upon him on the left hand, when he sold him for a slave; and when this prevailed not, he sets here a Delilah to tickle him on the right side, and to tie him with the green withes of youthful pleasures. Sed pari successu: but he lost his labour. Joseph was semper idem; famous for all the four cardinal virtues, if ever any were. See here in this one temptation, his fortitude; justice; temperance; and prudence, in that he shuns the occasion; for he would not only not lie with her, but not "be with her," saith the text: and that a man is indeed, that he is in a temptation; which is but a tap to give vent to corruption.
To lie by her, or to be with her.] "Keep thee far from an evil matter," saith Moses. {Exo 23:7} "Come not nigh the door of" the harlot’s "house," saith Solomon. {Pro 5:8} "Flee fornication," saith Paul. {1Co 6:18} And "Flee youthful lusts." {2Ti 2:22} Not abstain from them only, but "flee" them, as ye would do a flying serpent. These are God’s commandments: and they are to be "kept as the sight of the eye." {Pro 7:2} The Nazarite might not only not drink wine, but not taste a raisin or the husk of a grape. {Num 6:3-4} The good Christian is taught to "abstain from all appearance of evil"; {1Th 5:22} and to "hate the very garment that is spotted by the flesh." The devil counts a fit occasion half a conquest; for he knows that corrupt nature hath a πανσπερμια, a seed plot of all sin: which being drawn forth and watered by the breath of ill company, or some other occasion, is soon set awork, to the producing of death. Satan cheats us, when he persuades us that it is no conquest, except we beat away the temptation, yet keep the occasion by us. God will not remove the temptation till we remove the occasion. And in such case to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," is to thrust our finger into the fire, and then pray it may not be burnt. A bird while aloft is safe; but she comes not near the snare without danger. Solomon thought himself wise enough to convert his wives, and not be corrupted by them. But "it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods," &c. {1Ki 11:4} He that can shun or remove the occasion, of his own proper motion, as Joseph did, he is the man; this is grace; here is a victory.
{a} Mr Perkins.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He avoided her company and familiar conversation, as evil…
He avoided her company and familiar conversation, as evil in itself, the present circumstances considered, and as an occasion of further evil. See Pro 1:15; 5:8; 1Co 15:33; 1Th 5:22; 1Ti 5:14.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it came to pass, that as she spake…
And it came to pass, that as she spake to Joseph day by day,.... Continually, incessantly, hoping in time to prevail upon him to comply with her desires; so that the temptation, as it was strong, and very ensnaring, it was urgent, and frequent, and pressed with great importunity; which required the more grace and spiritual strength to resist:
that he hearkened not unto her; not only did not yield to her, but would not give her an hearing, at least as little as possible he could, lest he should be overcome by her persuasions:
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to lie by her, or to be with her; she might tempt him to lie by her, if he would not lie with her; or to lie, as Aben Ezra interprets it, in a place near her, in a chamber next to hers, in hopes by degrees to gain her point; but he would not yield to either, nor to be in her company, and have any conversation with her, at least as little as possible, that he might not be in the way of temptation, and be led into it; though these phrases may all signify carnal copulation with her, which was what his mistress solicited, and he would not hearken to her in, and comply with her.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He hearkened not to her, so much as to…
He hearkened not to her, so much as to be with her. Those that would be kept from harm, must keep themselves out of harm's way.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 39:10-12. She spake to Joseph from day to…
Gen 39:10-12. She spake to Joseph from day to day — Joseph was single, was in the vigour of youth, was a man of like passions with us, was solicited and importuned to gratify those passions, and that in a way that promised both present pleasure and profit, and by one on whom he was dependant, and whom it was dangerous to provoke; whose frown might be followed by great sufferings, and whose favour might advance and establish his prosperity: opportunity and privacy also were afforded. But Joseph feared God; Joseph believed in a judgment to come. He therefore denied himself, and would not, for the sake of those pleasures of sin which are but for a season, involve himself in the divine wrath, and in certain and lasting misery and ruin. Hence he hearkened not to her, so much as to be with her. Finding her dead to all sense of shame, and deaf to the calls of duty, honour, conscience, and the fear of God, and that she was not to be reclaimed, he avoided her company, being distrustful of himself. For those that would be kept from harm must keep out of harm’s way. And when she laid hold on him, he left his garment in her hand — He would not stay to parley with the temptation, but flew from it with the utmost abhorrence, as one escaping for his life.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Both the woman was importunate, &c. Hebrew does not…
Both the woman was importunate, &c. Hebrew does not express this so fully. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And it came to pass, as she spake or,…
And it came to pass, as she spake or, though she spake (Kalisch)to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her (an euphemistic expression), or (which is not in the original, and may be omitted) to be with her.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 She spoke to Joseph day after day
She spoke to Joseph day after day
This means that she kept asking him to sleep with her. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "She kept on asking Joseph to sleep with her" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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to be with her
"to be near her"
It came about
"And so." This phrase is used here to mark a new event in the story. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
None of the men of the house
"None of the other men who worked in the house"
fled, and went outside
"and quickly ran outside" or "and quickly ran out of the house"
translationWords
Joseph (OT)
had relations with
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.