2.
And thus Potiphar 1 the chief cook 2 of Pharaoh entrusted to me his house, and I struggled against a shameless woman, urging me to transgress with her; but the God of Israel my father guarded me from the burning flame. I was cast into prison, I was beaten, I was mocked; and the Lord granted me to find pity in the sight of the keeper of the prison. For He will in no wise forsake them that fear Him, neither in darkness, nor in bonds, nor in tribulations, nor in necessities. For not as man is God ashamed, nor as the son of man is He afraid, nor as one that is earth-born is He weak, or can He be thrust aside; but in all places is He at hand, and in divers ways doth He comfort, departing for a little to try the purpose of the soul. In ten temptations He showed me approved, and in all of them I endured; for endurance is a mighty charm, and patience giveth many good things.
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The Greek spelling here is Photimar, in the later chapters Petephris (Pentephres, Cd. Oxon.). The former is more like the Hebrew, the latter really the LXX. spelling, Petephres. We may perhaps see herein a trace of a double authorship in the Test. Joseph. ↩
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Cf. Gen. xxxix. 1, LXX., and Josephus (Antiq., ii. 4. 1), who calls Potiphar mageiron ho basileus. The view of the Eng. ver. is most probably correct, though we find tvch used in the sense of cook in 1 Sam. ix. 23. ↩
