Genesis 39:7

Summary

After a certain period of time following prior events, the wife of Joseph's master noticed him and fixed her gaze on him. She then addressed him directly with a command to lie with her.

Key words

• 'aChar ("after", H0310A) — a construct-form temporal marker introducing the phrase "after these things," linking this scene to what preceded it in the narrative.
• deVarim ("things", H1697I) — plural noun with the article ha ("the"), referring back to the preceding events as a defined set ("these matters/things").
• tiSa' ("she lifted up", H5375H) — qal narrative verb, third person feminine, continuing the story's chain of consecutive actions; paired with 'eineiha ("her eyes") it forms the idiom of visually fixing attention on someone.
• shikhVah ("lie", H7901I) — qal imperative, masculine singular, addressed to Joseph, with a paragogic he (H9012) attached, a suffix that adds emphasis to the command without changing its basic meaning.
• 'immi ("with me", H5973A + H9030) — preposition plus first-person suffix, marking the object of the command as the speaker herself.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula vayHi 'aChar hadDevarim ha'Elleh ("and it was after these things"), a standard Hebrew transitional phrase that marks a new episode without specifying an exact duration — only that some interval separates it from what came before. The subject then shifts to "the wife of his master" ('eshet-'adonav), where 'adonai ("master", H0113) appears in a plural construct form though it refers to a single person, a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew for terms of respect or authority.

The main action is expressed through two consecutive qal verbs typical of Hebrew narrative sequencing: tiSa' ("she lifted") governs the direct object marker 'et plus 'eineiha ("her eyes"), forming the idiom for directing one's gaze intently at someone — here "to Joseph" ('el-Yosef). The scene closes with direct speech introduced by tomer ("she said"), followed by the imperative shikhVah ("lie") with the emphatic paragogic he, and the prepositional phrase 'immi ("with me"), making the command explicit and self-directed.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew idiom tiSa' 'et-'eineiha ("she lifted her eyes") is rendered in the LXX as epebalen tous ophthalmous autēs ("she cast/threw her eyes"), and in the Vulgate as injecit oculos suos ("she cast her eyes") — both using a verb of throwing rather than lifting, though conveying the same idiomatic sense of fixing attention. The Vulgate identifies her as domina sua ("his mistress/lady") rather than explicitly stating "wife of his master" as the Hebrew 'eshet-'adonav does, while the LXX preserves the relational term with hē gynē tou kyriou autou ("the wife of his lord").