And it came to pass after these things,—Joseph had by this time been nearly ten years in Potiphar's house (vide Genesis 41:46)—that his master's wife cast her eyes (lasciviously) upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. According to monumental evidence and historical testimony (Herod; 2.111), Egyptian females, even though married, were distinguished for licentiousness and immorality, and were not condemned to live in seclusion (Bohlen), but were allowed freely to mix in promiscuous society, which facts perfectly account for Joseph's temptation by his mistress.
But he refused,—"it may be that the absence of personal charms facilitated Joseph's resistance (Kalisch); but Joseph assigns a different reason for his noncompliance with her utterly immoral proposition—and said unto his master's wife,—"for her unclean solicitation he returneth pure and wholesome words" (Hughes)—Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house (literally, knoweth not, along with me, what is in the house), and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand, (literally, and all that is to him he hath given to or placed in my hand); there is none greater in this house than I neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin (cf. Genesis 20:6; 2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 51:4 for the estimate of this act taken by God and good men) against God?—Elohim, since Jehovah would have been unintelligible to a heathen woman.