Genesis 39:9

No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Joseph speaks to Potiphar’s wife while refusing her repeated sexual advances, situating his refusal in the reality of his master’s total delegation of household authority and his own legal marriage. He delivers this statement during a direct confrontation after she has persisted in her pressure day after day.

The words — The phrase אֵינֶ֨/נּוּ גָד֜וֹל בַּ/בַּ֣יִת הַ/זֶּה֮ מִמֶּ/נִּי ('ei.Ne./nu ga.Dol ba./Ba.yit ha./Zeh mi.me./Ni) literally renders “not is he great in this household more than me,” establishing Joseph’s subordinate status and his master’s unprecedented trust. The verb חָשַׂ֤ךְ (cha.Sakh) means “he has withheld,” specifying that Potiphar retained control over nothing except Joseph’s person.

The thread — The principle of divine accountability governing human conduct reappears in Genesis 20:6, where God’s awareness of a clear conscience sets the boundary for action, and in Genesis 42:18, where “I fear God” functions as the foundational reason for Joseph’s subsequent commands. David’s confession in 2 Samuel 12:13 further links personal sin directly to its vertical consequence: “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Why it lands — The text demands that ethical boundaries be grounded in reverence for God rather than in social position or personal convenience. It requires the reader to recognize that trust and authority are delegated, not absolute, and that moral failure is ultimately a violation of divine order.

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

King James Version

There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

Cross-references

2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
Genesis 20:6 Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
Genesis 42:18 and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:
Psalms 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
Luke 12:48 But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.
Galatians 5:19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
1 John 3:9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Leviticus 6:2 “If someone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him or stolen, or if he extorts his neighbor
Numbers 32:23 But if you do not do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD—and be assured that your sin will find you out.
2 Samuel 11:27 And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.