¶ God prospereth Ioseph. Pharaos wyfe tempteth Ioseph. He is accused, & ••ast in prison. God hath mercy vpon hym.
CAPI. XXXIX.
IOseph was brought vnto Egypte, and [unspec A] Putiphar * 1.1 a Lorde of Pharaos (and his cheyfe steward an Egyptian) bought hym of the Ismaelites whiche had brought hym thyther. And God was with Ioseph, & he be came a luckye man, continuyng in the house of his mayster the Egyptiā. And his mayster sawe that God was with hym, and that God made all that he dyd to prosper in his hande. And Ioseph founde grace in his maysters syght, and serued hym. And made hym rular of his house / and put all that he had in his hande. And it fortuned from the tyme that he had made him ruler ouer his house, & oueral that he had, that the lorde * 1.2 blessed the Egyp¦tians house for Iosephs sake, & the blessyng of the Lorde was vpon all that he had: in the house, and in the felde. And therfore he lefte [unspec B] all that he had in Iosephs hande, and loked vpon nothynge that was wt hym, saue onely on the bread whiche he dyd eate. And Ioseph was a * 1.3 goodly person and a welfauoured. And it fortuned after this, that his maysters wyfe cast her eyes vpon Ioseph, and sayde: come lye with me. But he refused / & sayde to his maysters wyfe: Behold, my mayster wo∣teth not what he hath in the house with me, & hath cōmytted all that he hath to my hand. There is no man greater in the house thē I. Neyther hath he kepte any thynge from me, but onely the / bycause thou arte his wyfe. Howe then can I do this great wyckednesse, and synne agaynst God? And after this ma∣ner spake she to Ioseph daye by daye, but he harkened not vnto her / to slepe nere her, or to be in her company. And it fortuned on a cer∣tayne [unspec C] conuement day / that Ioseph entred in to the house / to do his busynesse, & there was no man of the householde by / in the house. And she caught him by the garment saynge / come slepe wt me. And he lefte his garment in her hande and fled / and gat hym out. And it chaunsed: when she sawe that he had lefte his garment in her hande / and was fled out. (And she not regarded.) She called vnto the men of her house, & tolde them, sayenge: Se, he hath brought in an Hebrew vnto vs, to do vs shame, for he came in to me / for to haue slepte with me. And I began to crye with a lowde voyce. And when he herde that I lyfte vp my voyce & cryed, he lefte his garment wt me, and fled away, and gat hym out. And she [unspec D] layed vp his garment by her, vntyl her lorde came home. And she tolde hym with these word{is} saynge: This Hebrues seruant which thou hast brought vnto vs, came into me, to do me shame. But as soone as I lyfte vp my voyce & cryed, he lefte his garment with me, and fled out. When his mayster. (Beynge to lyght of credence.) herde these wordes of his wyfe whiche she tolde hym saynge: after this maner dyd thy seruant to me, he waxed wroth And the mayster toke Ioseph and put hym in * 1.4 prysō euen in to the place where the king{is} prysoners laye bounde. And there continued he in pryson, but God was with Ioseph, and shewed hym mercye, and got hym fauour in the syght of the Lorde of the pryson. And the keper of the pryson commytted to Iosephs hande all the prysoners that were in the pry∣son house. And whatsoeuer was done there / that dyd he. And the keper of the prysō loked vnto nothynge that was vnder his hande, seynge that God was with hym. For whatso∣euer he dyd, God made it to prosper.