Genesis 39:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 39:14
That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
men
לְאַנְשֵׁ֣יle.'an.Shei
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
house
בֵיתָ֗הּvei.Tah
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
spake
וַתֹּ֤אמֶרva.To.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
See
רְא֗וּre.'U
H7200
to see · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
in
הֵ֥בִיאHe.vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Hebrew
אִ֥ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mock
לְצַ֣חֶקle.Tza.chek
H6711
to laugh outright (in merriment or scorn) · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
in
בָּ֤אba'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
lie
לִשְׁכַּ֣בlish.Kav
H7901
to lie down (for rest · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
cried
וָאֶקְרָ֖אva.'ek.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular
loud
גָּדֽוֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
voice
בְּק֥וֹלbe.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 10:21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
Genesis 14:13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and broth…
Genesis 39:7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
Genesis 39:17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
Genesis 40:15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
Psalms 35:11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
Psalms 55:3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
Psalms 120:3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 39:13-18
Joseph's mistress, having tried in vain to make him a criminal, now endeavours to represent him as one; so to be revenged on him for his virtue. Now was her love turned into the utmost rage and malice, and she pretends she cannot endure the sight of him whom awhile ago she could not endure out of her sight. Chaste and holy love will continue, though slighted; but sinful love, like Amnon's to Tamar, is easily changed into sinful hatred. 1. She accused him to his fellow servants (Gen 39:13-15) and gave him a bad name among them. Probably they envied him his interest in their master's favour, and his authority in the house; and perhaps found themselves aggrieved sometimes by his fidelity, which…
Then she called unto the men of her house--Disappointed and affronted, she vowed revenge and accused Joseph, first to the servants of the house, and on his return to her lord.
See, he hath brought in an Hebrew . . . to mock us--an affected and blind aspersion of her husband for keeping in his house an Hebrew, the very abomination of Egyptians.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 39:14
He hath brought in a Hebrew unto us - Potiphar's wife affects to throw great blame on her husband, whom we may reasonably suppose she did not greatly love. He hath brought in - he hath raised this person to all his dignity and eminence, to give him the greater opportunity to mock us. לפחק letsachek, here translated to mock, is the same word used in Gen 26:8, relative to Isaac and Rebekah; and is certainly used by Potiphar's wife in Gen 39:17, to signify some kind of familiar intercourse not allowable but between man and wife.
John Gill on Genesis 39:14
That she called unto the men of her house,.... Of that part of the house which belonged to her; her eunuchs that waited upon her, or that were in another part of the home, at some distance:
and spake unto them; when they came to her:
saying, see, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us: she means her husband, whom through contempt, and in her passion, she names not, having lost all affection for him, as her addresses to Joseph showed; and so the Targum of Jonathan supplies it,"your master hath brought, &c.''and Joseph she calls an Hebrew by way of reproach, and with a view to set her servants against him; who before this might not have any great regard to him through envy at him, f…
The Church Fathers
Indeed, Joseph went out of doors while she spread the news of the temptation that arose from her own adultery; she said in a loud voice that the Hebrew had fled and left his garment behind. Thus she revealed what she should have concealed, so as to do harm to an innocent man by inventing a crime. But the just man Joseph did not know how to make accusation, and so the impure woman accomplished this with impunity. Therefore I might say that she was the one who had really been stripped, although she was keeping the clothing of another. She had lost all the coverings of chastity, whereas he was sufficiently provided for and protected; his voice was not heard, and yet his blamelessness spoke for itself.
But despite such a victory, despite such wonderful fortitude for which Joseph ought to have been rewarded, for which he ought to have been extolled, once more he endures countless troubles as though a guilty party. You see, the Egyptian woman did not take kindly at that stage to her shame and insult brought on herself by attempting the impossible. First she summoned those in the household and accused the young man and tried to mislead them all by claiming that the commands given by her in her frenzy had been uttered by him. This, in fact, is the way with wickedness, that it endeavors to attribute its own faults to the virtue that is under attack. That is exactly what she did in this case, portraying the young man as incontinent and giving herself the guise of chastity, saying that was the reason he had abandoned his clothes and she was left with them.
When Joseph was still young and at the end of his adolescence, he overcame the impudence of the Egyptian woman, even though he was dragged with great force to commit what was not lawful. In fact, this woman arguing with him impudently took the clothes off him and urged him to sin against his will. Actually he escaped from the furious lust of the woman after abandoning his cloak and could not be defeated by her strong will. Therefore he was accused of that action, since the woman turned the fault to him. In that dishonorable accusation, however, Joseph demonstrated great modesty and nobility. And he was thrown into the prison. Christ also was among the pagans, especially in the person of the holy apostles, who declared that they carried around on their own body his scars. They did not want to adjust themselves to those things that belong to the world but kept away from any desire of the flesh. And such is always the life of the saints. Therefore, for this reason, they were the object of many plots and were oppressed by the slander of those who were accustomed to regard those who wanted to live in Christ as unbearable, so that they fell into tremendous temptations and were imprisoned. However, they always bore in mind Christ's saying: "If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, therefore the world hates you," exactly as the lustful woman hated Joseph.
Dictionary and topics
Hebrew — A name applied to the Israelites in Scripture only by one who is a foreigner (Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12, etc.), or by the Israelites when they speak of themselves to foreigners (40:15; Ex. 1:19), or when…
Jew — The name derived from the patriarch Judah, at first given to one belonging to the tribe of Judah or to the separate kingdom of Judah (2 Kings 16:6; 25:25; Jer. 32:12; 38:19; 40:11; 41:3), in…
Temptation — (1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God “tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., ‘did prove’] Abraham;” and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their…
Accusation, False · .Against Joseph by Potiphar’s wife — .Against Joseph by Potiphar’s wife
Chastity · .Joseph — .Joseph
Decision · .JOSEPH — .JOSEPH
Egypt · History of Israel in: Joseph unjustly cast into prison — History of Israel in: Joseph unjustly cast into prison
Hebrew · .And his — .And his
Master · .Potiphar’s wife to Joseph — .Potiphar’s wife to Joseph
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And it came to pass about this time. That is, in the process of time, seeing she will not desist from soliciting holy Joseph, it happens at length, that she adds force to blandishments. Now, Moses here describes the crisis [147] of the combat. Joseph had already exhibited a noble and memorable example of constancy; because, as a youth, so often tempted, through a constant succession of many days, he had preserved the even tenor of his way; and at that age, to which pardon is wont to be granted, if it break forth into intemperance, he was more moderate than almost any old man. But now when the woman openly raves, and her love is turned into fury, the more arduous the contest has become, the m…
When this daring assault upon Joseph's chastity had failed, on account of his faithfulness and fear of God, the adulterous woman reversed the whole affair, and charged him with an attack upon her modesty, in order that she might have her revenge upon him and avert suspicion from herself. She called her house-servants and said, "See, he (her husband, whom she does not think worth naming) has brought us a Hebrew man ("no epitheton ornans to Egyptian ears: Gen 43:32") to mock us (צחק to show his wantonness; us, the wife and servants, especially the female portion): he came in unto me to lie with me; and I cried with a loud voice...and he left his garment by me." She said אצלי "by my side," not…
Though Potiphar’s wife was addressing slaves, she appealed to them as fellow Egyptians (us) to enlist them as witnesses against the despised Hebrew (see 43:32) who had won Potiphar’s trust.
Rashi on Genesis 39:14
ראו הביא לנו SEE, HE HATH BROUGHT IN UNTO US — This is an elliptical phrase: “he hath brought in to us” without stating plainly who brought him in She was referring to her husband.
עברי A HEBREW — is one who came from the other side (עבר) of the river Euphrates, being at the same time of the sons of Eber (אדניו).