Bible Strands

Genesis 39:17

Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Potiphar’s wife addresses her husband immediately after concealing Joseph’s garment. She delivers a fabricated accusation while he is still absent from the scene.

The words — וַתְּדַבֵּר (vat’dabber) means “she spoke,” marking her active initiation of the account. כַּדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה (kad’varim ha’eleh) translates to “according to these words,” indicating she repeated the identical false narrative she previously gave to the household servants.

The thread — The verse directly continues the narrative thread from Genesis 39:14, where she first spread the same accusation to the domestic staff. It stands in direct contrast to the prohibitions against false testimony in Exodus 20:16 and Exodus 23:1.

Why it lands — The text records the mechanical repetition of a lie before any moral judgment is applied. It requires the reader to trace how a single false claim escalates through deliberate retelling.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וַתְּדַבֵּ֣רva./te.da.Berand/ she spokeאֵלָ֔יו'e.La/vto/ himכַּדְּבָרִ֥יםka./de.va.Rimaccording to the/ wordsהָאֵ֖לֶּהha./'E.leh<the>/ theseלֵאמֹ֑רle./Mor<to>/ sayingבָּֽא־ba'-he cameאֵלַ֞י'e.La/ito/ meהָעֶ֧בֶדha./'E.vedthe/ servantהָֽעִבְרִ֛יha./'iv.Rithe/ Hebrewאֲשֶׁר־'a.Sher-whomהֵבֵ֥אתָhe.Ve.tayou broughtלָּ֖נוּLa./nuto <the>/ usלְצַ֥חֶקle./Tza.chekto/ mockבִּֽי׃B/i<in> <the>/ me

King James Version

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:

Cross-references