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Jubilees

About this book

Joseph in Potiphar’s House

Chapter 39

1 And Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. 2 And Joseph was seventeen years old when they took him down into the land of Egypt, and Potiphar, a eunuch of Pharaoh, the chief cook bought him. 3 And he set Joseph over all his house and the blessing of the Lord came upon the house of the Egyptian on account of Joseph, and the Lord prospered him in all that he did. 4 And the Egyptian committed everything into the hands of Joseph; for he saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord prospered him in all that he did.

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

5 And Joseph's appearance was handsome [and his appearance was very beautiful], and his master's wife looked up and saw Joseph, and she loved him and begged him to lie with her. 6 But he did not surrender his soul, and he remembered the Lord and the words which Jacob, his father, used to read from among the words of Abraham,⁠ that no man should commit adultery with a woman who has a husband; that for him the punishment of death has been ordained in the heavens before the Most High God,⁠ and the sin will be recorded against him in the eternal books continually before the Lord. 7 And Joseph remembered these words and refused to lie with her. 8 And she begged him for a year, but he refused and would not listen. 9 But she embraced him and held him tightly in the house in order to force him to lie with her, and closed the doors of the house and held him tightly; but he left his clothing in her hands and broke through the door and fled outside from her presence. 10 And the woman saw that he would not lie with her, and she slandered him in the presence of his master, saying 'Your Hebrew servant, whom you love, tried to force me so that he might lie with me; and when I cried out he fled and left his clothing in my hands when I held him, and he broke through the door.' 11 And the Egyptian saw the clothing of Joseph and the broken door, and heard the words of his wife, and threw Joseph into prison into the place where the prisoners were kept whom the king imprisoned.

Joseph in Prison

12 And he was there in the prison; and the Lord gave Joseph favor in the sight of the chief of the prison guards and compassion before him, for he saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper. 13 And he committed all things into his hands, and the chief of the prison guards knew of nothing that was with him, for Joseph did everything, and the Lord perfected it. And he remained there two years.

Joseph Interprets Two Dreams

14 And in those days Pharaoh, king of Egypt was angry against his two eunuchs, against the chief cupbearer, and against the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the chief cook, in the prison where Joseph was kept. 15 And the chief of the prison guards appointed Joseph to serve them; and he served before them. 16 And they both dreamed a dream, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and they told it to Joseph. 17 And as he interpreted to them so it happened to them, and Pharaoh restored the chief cupbearer to his office and he killed the (chief) baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 18 But the chief cupbearer forgot Joseph in the prison, although he had informed him what would happen to him, and did not remember to inform Pharaoh how Joseph had told him, for he forgot.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 20:10 and Jubilees 39:6

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Leviticus prescribes death as the penalty for adultery. In Jubilees, Joseph is described already knowing this command generations earlier, taught by Abraham and ordained in heaven, long before the Torah was given at Sinai.

Passages

Leviticus 20:10

Hebrew Bible
9 “‘If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood guilt is on himself. 10 If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11 If a man goes to bed with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Jubilees 39:6

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
5 And Joseph's appearance was handsome [and his appearance was very beautiful], and his master's wife looked up and saw Joseph, and she loved him and begged him to lie with her. 6 But he did not surrender his soul, and he remembered the Lord and the words which Jacob, his father, used to read from among the words of Abraham, that no man should commit adultery with a woman who has a husband; that for him the punishment of death has been ordained in the heavens before the Most High God, and the sin will be recorded against him in the eternal books continually before the Lord. 7 And Joseph remembered these words and refused to lie with her.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

... Leviticus 20:10 mandates the death penalty for adultery: “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” However, identifying the woman as “the wife of his neighbor” can be understood to restrict the law to an Israelite (see Milgrom, Leviticus, 2:1747–48) so that it would not be applicable to a case like that of Joseph and the Egyptian woman. ...
James C. VanderKam, Jubilees 2: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees Chapters 22-50 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2018), 1010.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 20:10 and Jubilees 39:6

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